


Yours/Ours

by orphan_account



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Sex, Atyptical Night Vale Weirdness, Carlos is a Good Boyfriend, Cuddling & Snuggling, M/M, Massage, Mpreg, Oral Sex, Pregnancy, Typical Night Vale Weirdness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 12:40:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 37
Words: 42,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before Carlos ever returned Cecil's affections, Cecil had one last night with his childhood best friend. As a result, Cecil and Carlos's relationship isn't the only new beginning in the broadcaster's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A fill for [this kinkmeme prompt](http://nightvalecommunitykink.dreamwidth.org/822.html?thread=716342#cmt716342). This fic was started in late 2013 and while there were some attempts to fit it to canon regarding character backstories for the next several months, it has sense been left as is, not incorporating information beyond Cecil's sister's official name that was revealed after the episode Cookies.

Cecil didn't tell the town everything about his first date with Carlos. Some things were best left out. Carlos didn't even know that when Cecil excused himself to the bathroom at Gino's between finishing his mushroom and when the carrot cake came, it was because he was unable to keep his mushroom down.

He was barely able to keep his incorporeal carrot cake down after they'd left, for that matter. But he chalked it all up to nerves. He'd been slowly not getting over what Cecil assumed was a particularly hard to shake stomach bug, and had been a bit nervous about how perfect Carlos felt about him since not long after that night in the parking lot of the Arby’s, but it wasn't something Cecil was going to bother the Night Vale medical community with.

Or, at least, he wasn't until a week and a half later, when he wasn't able to hold down his mandatory weekly slice of Big Rico's Pizza.

The City Council had long since declared Big Rico's the safest food to eat in the city, and anyone who found themselves ill after eating it was to report to the hospital immediately to find out what was obviously seriously wrong with them.

Cecil, of course, complied, under the watch of The Sheriff’s Secret Police, who were authorized to take him in forcibly if he didn't go in himself. He spent the better part of an afternoon having various fluids drawn, and then being poked and prodded and generally examined, and, as was standard practice, not told anything until he was discharged.

"Congratulations Mister Palmer," the nurse beamed as she handed him his validated parking and a packet of information regarding his condition.

Cecil returned the smile politely, if a bit confused, but he was quite pleased that he wasn't being taken away to a quarantine, so he figured whatever his diagnosis was, it couldn't be too bad. Or it was quite serious and possibly fatal, but it wasn't anything contagious or otherwise a danger to the town and its order.

He walked out to his car and drove home, a bit nervous about opening the packet, but figuring that whatever it was could wait until he'd gotten to his apartment and made himself a cup of peppermint tea to settle his stomach again.

The contents of the packet were... surprising, to say the least. Cecil opened the envelope and stared at the top sheet of paper, decorated in cartoony renderings of traditional infant protection runes, proclaiming in bold letters "Congratulations on your conception!" Printed on the back was the Night Vale medical community's policy on parasite removal and a list of safe, City Council approved alternative practitioners.

He finished reading through the test result print outs and provided information before letting it all sink in. He knew better than to question such things. But that didn't make the inevitable conversation he'd have to have with Carlos any easier.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been the evening before the Eternal Scout ceremony and Cecil had just gotten home from work and settled in for the night when he heard a knock at his door in the middle of pouring himself a drink.

"Earl," Cecil said with very mild surprise as he opened the door to see the local Scoutmaster standing there, "Uh, come in."

Earl stepped inside and smiled at the broadcaster a little nervously. "Thanks, Cecil. Sorry about not calling, I just... ended up here."

Cecil nodded in reply as he shut the door and resumed pouring his drink, pouring a second and handing it to Earl before gesturing to the couch and sitting down, waiting for him to elaborate.

"Still drinking the fancy stuff, eh?" Earl chuckled, sitting down and taking a long sip of his drink before continuing, "Two of my boys are becoming Eternal Scouts tomorrow. I... don't know what that will bring. I thought I'd come see you before all of that."

"You're always welcome here, Earl," Cecil said softly, mostly into his drink, not sure how else to reply.

They sat in mostly companionable silence for what felt like a very long time.

"You fall in love easy, Cecil," Earl finally commented, swirling his drink around in his glass, "You just never managed it with me..."

"That doesn't mean I don't care, Earl," Cecil managed after another long moment of silence, "I always cared. Just... not the way you wanted me to, I don't think."

Earl nodded, staring into his drink. "I've got a ring in my pocket. I've wanted to put it on your finger since we were 16. If I asked you to take it, you wouldn't, would you?"

Cecil couldn't quite bring himself to look up from his glass. "...No..."

"Didn't think so..." Earl finished off his glass in one swallow and sat it down on the table beside him. "Do you think we could have one more night, maybe? For old time's sake?"

Cecil did look up then, catching the small glint of hope in Earl's eyes. "Yeah. I think we could do that. For old time's sake," he replied, just barely smiling as he finished his drink off and stood, heading toward the bedroom.

Earl followed, and Cecil turned on the lamp next to the bed. Both men undressed themselves in the dim light, knowing what this was and comfortable enough with each other that there was no awkward fumbling or need for more words. The only hesitation happened when Cecil had laid back on the bed and Earl joined him, settling between the broadcaster's spread legs and leaning in, hovering with his lips just short of meeting Cecil's, unsure if he was allowed. Cecil let out a little huff of unsure breath before leaning up to close the gap.

He held the kiss for a long time before finally breaking it to reach over to the bedside table and grab the small bottle of lubricant from the drawer, pressing it into Earl's hand.

Things were easy again, after that. Earl pulled breathy moans from Cecil with his lips pressing against the broadcaster's jaw and throat and lips again in turn, and fingers working Cecil open easily.

Cecil's moans grew louder when Earl pressed in, and he allowed his legs to wrap around the Scoutmaster, pulling him even closer.

Neither really allowed the other too much movement, but that was okay this time. Not that they were usually particularly rough or frantic, but this was especially intimate, and it felt right.

The Secret Police turned an eye away and even the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your (and Cecil’s) Home left them to it as they rocked into and against each other, unhurried.

Eventually their pace did quicken, Cecil's moans becoming needy as Earl shifted and slid a hand between them to stroke Cecil's length. It wasn't long after that Cecil came with a loud cry and tightened around Earl, his legs pulling him in even closer as Earl followed soon after, whispering Cecil's name.

They laid like that until they caught their breath and Earl slid out, laying back down next to Cecil, grabbing a tissue to clean off his own hand and Cecil's stomach. Cecil murmured a soft thanks, but beyond that it was only more comfortable silence between them in the cool night air.

"I should get home, get ready for tomorrow, get some sleep," Earl murmured, finally breaking the silence after a few more long moments.

Cecil opened his eyes to see Earl already pulling away. "You could stay, if you wanted," he replied, more out of politeness than really wanting Earl to stay, but he wouldn't have minded if he was taken up on the offer.

Earl shook his head and leaned in, kissing Cecil's lips softly one last time. "I should go. I love you, Cecil."

With that, Cecil let Earl pull away and dress, giving him a small smile before the Scoutmaster shut the bedroom door and left the apartment.


	3. Chapter 3

There was no sense in putting it off, really. Cecil wasn't going to get less pregnant if he waited. Well, technically, there were a couple possible events that would make him less pregnant, but one he had no control over and the other required specific action on his part, and neither were things he wanted to go through alone if he didn't have to. 

He thought about calling his sister- this was the sort of news people usually told family about after all - but this sort of news, when shared with family, was usually happy, too. He decided he would wait until he knew more and was less unsure of, well, everything to come before he told Abby. 

Cecil didn’t really want to tell Carlos just yet, either, but the hopeful future intimate nature of their relationship meant that he had to. So, he invited Carlos over for dinner the following Saturday.

They'd gone to see a Saturday matinee the previous week, a lovely second date, holding hands in the dark of the theater, both parties too nervous to do anything else other than kiss each other a little less chastely than the first time as they parted ways, each having to get to work early that evening.

Under normal circumstances, the next date would be nerve wracking enough, it being the first time either of them had been in the other's home, the first one not out in public, not even to mention it was the third date and the expectations that came with that. All that, in combination with the news Cecil would have to deliver, made him pretty certain that the way his stomach rolled as he cooked was actually at least partly nerves.

Cecil made grilled chicken with rice (simple and something he could keep down), and Carlos arrived punctually, knocking lightly on the door of Cecil's apartment.

"Hi," Carlos said, chewing on his lip a little nervously as he held out a small bag of bloodstones and hematite. "I did some research into Night Vale dating rituals. Where I'm from, flowers, or maybe wine would be the traditional gift, but I've never been a big fan of giving flowers, and I didn't know what we'd be having or what you drink, and I'm to understand that these are better received anyway..."

"Oh Carlos..." Tears welled up in Cecil's eyes as he took the stones. Carlos had done _research_ for him. He'd been thoughtful enough to get him a _gift_. One Carlos clearly didn't entirely understand, but he got it anyway. Then suddenly Cecil remembered half the reason he'd scheduled this particular date with Carlos and the words came tumbling out of his mouth: "Carlos, I'm pregnant."

Carlos's eyes went wide as it tried to process what he'd heard and figure out how to appropriately react to it and the fact that tears had begun streaming down Cecil's face as he stood there speechless. "... What?" he finally managed, stepping inside and shutting the door behind himself.

“I’m pregnant…” Cecil repeated, wiping at his eyes and trying to stop his sudden tears, “I didn’t mean to just blurt it out like that, but it’s something you should know. Let’s – Let’s just eat dinner, okay?”

Carlos didn’t think that was the best plan of action, this was something that needed a bit of explanation and discussion, but he wasn’t going to push the subject. He wasn’t great at conversations where the topics were things both parties wanted to discuss, much less, well, this. He nodded, still speechless, and followed Cecil to the apartment’s kitchenette, where two places were set at the counter island that doubled as the table.

“Do you like chicken and rice?” Cecil asked, plating up the food and sitting down next to Carlos, pausing to wipe at his eyes as tears continued to roll down his cheeks. “Sorry,” he murmured, “I’m just a little overwhelmed right now.”

“It’s okay, Cecil,” Carlos finally managed, trying to be reassuring, reaching out to put a hand on Cecil’s arm gently.

“I didn’t even think someone like me could get pregnant, you know…” Cecil sniffled.

“Someone like you?” The words slipped out before Carlos could even realize that was probably rude to ask.

“Someone traditionally male-bodied. I mean, Khoshekh did have kittens, but he’s a cat and floating in the men’s bathroom at the station. I didn’t think it could happen to me”

Carlos blinked a few times, letting what Cecil had said sink in. When Cecil had announced his pregnancy, Carlos just figured that Cecil didn’t have the set of anatomy he had been expecting. He should have known better than assume anyway. But this was a whole new ball game, if Cecil was saying what Carlos thought he was. “Cecil, are you saying, that, well, you have a penis and testicles and no other external genitalia?”

Cecil nodded as his face twisted slightly in confusion. “Uh-huh.”

“And you’re sure you’re pregnant?”

“Yes, I had to go to the hospital and they confirmed it.” Cecil got up from his seat quickly and grabbed the packet of papers from where he’d placed it on top of the fridge, handing it to Carlos. “See.”

Carlos was not a biologist. He was a geophysicist, which was decidedly not even a biology related field, really. But he did have an older sister who had gotten pregnant with his eldest nephew while she was still living at home, and as a result Carlos had done a certain amount of research on the topic. He paged through the information, reading the summary of Cecil’s condition. Cecil’s reported symptoms made sense, but pregnancy was far from the only possible cause for those. The blood test results were a little more damning, but Carlos worked in a lab, one not nearly as busy as a hospital’s, and he knew how easy it was to mislabel samples. There still had to be some mistake.

Then Carlos turned the page and was confronted with stills from a confirming ultrasound.

Cecil, not for the first time, quietly cursed the fact he had backless barstools and an island instead of a real table and chairs as he watched Carlos black out and fall off his seat.


	4. Chapter 4

“Carlos! Carlos! Are you alright?”

Cecil’s worried voice echoed in Carlos’s head as he slowly came to, more horizontal than he’d previously been, but it didn’t feel like he’d hit his head on the way down or anything. “I’m fine. And you’re pregnant.”

“Yeah,” Cecil agreed, handing Carlos a glass of water and helping him sit up, “I am… Are you sure you’re okay?”

Carlos nodded, taking a few sips of the water before handing the glass back to Cecil and standing up. “Yes, I’m fine. Just a little shocked. This sort of thing doesn’t happen where I’m from…”

“This sort of thing doesn’t really happen here, either,” Cecil chuckled with limited humor behind it, setting the glass on the counter and helping Carlos stand before leading him to the couch to sit back down.

“Right…” the scientist bit at his lip lightly as he settled back against the couch and looked over at Cecil again. “It’s not mine, is it?” Immediately, Carlos cringed at his phrasing, noticing Cecil wince at it too. “I-I just mean, we haven’t, well, you know, done anything yet, and it looked like you were too far along for it to be mine even if we had, but it doesn’t make sense for you to even be pregnant, so maybe the conception and rate of growth doesn’t make sense either and –“

Cecil put his hand on Carlos’s shoulder, putting an end to the embarrassing ramble. “No, it isn’t yours, I don’t think…” He said softly, “We haven’t done anything, and judging by the dates, there’s another much more likely candidate…“

Carlos nodded, more matter of fact than any other reaction, pleased or disappointed. “Oh… May I ask who?”

Nodding in turn, Cecil settled back against the couch and sighed a little sadly. “Earl Harlan.”

“…Earl Harlan?”

“Yeah… He was the Scoutmaster of the local troop. Until he was dragged into that hole in the vacant lot behind the Ralph’s,” Cecil answered, looking away as he continued, “We were best friends as kids, and then as teenagers and beyond, a little more… Earl wanted more than that, and I tried not to lead him on. We both knew how the other felt. But sometimes things happened anyway, you know? And one of those things happened the night before the Eternal Scouts Ceremony…”

Carlos thought for a moment, recalling the ’~11 weeks gestation’ caption on the ultrasound, and when the Eternal Scout Ceremony was, then doing the math in his head and finding it all came out about right.

“So…,” the scientist geared up for his next probably inappropriate question of the evening, “are you going to keep it?”

Cecil curled in on himself a little and was silent for a long moment, while Carlos sat there, assuming that he’d said the exact wrong thing and unsure if Cecil wanted comfort or not.

“I don’t know.”

The words echoed in the quiet of the apartment for a moment before there was a quiet, little hiccup of a sob to break it. Carlos immediately wrapped an arm around Cecil, tentatively, half expecting Cecil to push him away. However, the broadcaster didn’t push him away, instead curling into his side and just staying there until the tears stopped.

“Sorry,” Cecil murmured, finally pulling back.

“It’s okay,” Carlos assured, rubbing Cecil’s arm and giving him a soft smile, “This is a lot for me to process, I can’t imagine what you must be going through.” Internally, Carlos was absolutely freaking out, but his time in Night Vale had been teaching him that sometimes externally freaking out wasn’t the appropriate response, no matter how much he really wanted to.

Cecil signed softly, returning the smile. “Thank you.” He was quiet for a moment until he suddenly remembered, “Dinner. We were supposed to have dinner. Are you still hungry? I could heat everything back up in the microwave quick?”

Carlos was jarred by the abrupt change of topic again, but if it was all the same to the broadcaster, he’d rather Cecil not cry into his shirt anymore until the current damp patch had dried. “You don’t have to go through the trouble, unless you’re hungry, Cecil.”

“I should probably eat,” Cecil said thoughtfully, standing up and walking back to the kitchenette, “I seem to hold food down better when I eat a little bit at a time and keep something in my stomach…”

“Of course,” Carlos nodded, standing up and helping Cecil warm the food again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those trying to do the math, gestational age is measured differently than age from conception, and conception isn't instantaneous either. I will have some science in my mpreg and no one can stop me. 
> 
> I sat down with a calendar and a pregnancy website and figured out all the dates and everything because it wasn't like Facebook was ever going to stop giving me targeted mommy ads anyway.


	5. Chapter 5

Once everything was reheated, they ate in a tense sort of quiet. Both had things they wanted to say or ask, but neither was willing to break the silence with anything more than comments about the quality of the food followed by agreement and thanks.

Eventually, they finished eating, and Carlos offered to help Cecil with the dishes.

“Would you like to stay? Watch a movie or something maybe?” Cecil asked, once everything had been dried and put away, sounding far too hopeful for Carlos to do anything but agree, not that the scientist had particularly wanted to leave anyway.

“I’d love to,” Carlos replied, following Cecil back to the couch.

Cecil sat down and began flipping through channels on the television, to see if anything interesting was on. “Ooh, Cat Ballou is on,” he commented, looking over to Carlos to check his reaction to the movie selection.

Carlos smiled at Cecil’s enthusiasm and nodded, sitting next to him, close but not touching. “That’s fine.”

They both turned their attention to the screen, neither really paying that much attention, but happy to have something to fill the space where talking wasn’t.

As the movie played, Cecil and Carlos shifted closer to each other, eventually ending up with Carlos leaning back into the corner of the couch comfortably, with his arm around Cecil’s shoulder, keeping him close. Cecil shifted a little bit more to lean his back against Carlos’s chest, and Carlos slid his hand down to rest at Cecil’s waist.

Carlos froze as he realized how he’d moved, how close his hand was to Cecil’s abdomen. His hand hovered for a moment before he finally asked, “Can I?”

Cecil looked down at the scientist’s hand almost but not quite touching him and thought for a moment before nodding.

Having Cecil’s silent permission, Carlos rested his hand on Cecil’s stomach.

The broadcaster really wasn’t quite showing yet. While he certainly wasn’t fat, he wasn’t so thin as for the pregnancy to be particularly obvious just this far along. If anything he looked thinner than usual, probably by virtue of losing a couple pounds as a result of having trouble successfully eating the past few weeks, and he favored looser clothing anyway, living and having grown up in a desert. But having his hand there, Carlos noticed there was, in fact, a gentle, slightly firm swell to Cecil’s lower abdomen.

Cecil put his hand atop Carlos’s and they stayed like that until the movie ended, falling into a comfortable silence during the commercial break before Cecil broke it.

“No one would blame you for not staying…” he began, speaking softly while looking down at their hands together, “I know that you didn’t sign up for this.”

Carlos swallowed hard, slipping his fingers between Cecil’s. “There were a lot of things in Night Vale I didn’t sign up for,” he said carefully, “And I didn’t go running because of any of those. This is… a big deal, Cecil. But I’d still like to see how things work out between us, regardless.”

“Oh.” Cecil’s eyes went a little wide and more than a little shiny as he turned to look at Carlos and saw how sincere the scientist looked. “Thank you.”

Shaking his head a little, Carlos couldn’t really find the right words, so he just leaned in and kissed Cecil’s lips gently.

Cecil returned the kiss, slowly but thoroughly, before pulling back and resting his head on Carlos’s shoulder. “Would, um, you like to spend the night? Just to sleep, I mean, I don’t know if it’d be safe to do more, and I don’t even know if we’re ready for that yet, much less tonight with everything and -”

It was Carlos’s turn to end Cecil’s ramble, kissing the side of his face softly. “I’d love to stay the night.”

Pulling back and nodding silently, Cecil stood and lead Carlos into the bedroom.

Carlos had to borrow a toothbrush, and an oversized t-shirt to sleep in, but Cecil insisted it was no trouble as the both got ready for and eventually climbed in to bed together.

“I have an appointment on Monday,” Cecil mentioned quietly, admiring Carlos’s profile as best he could in the dark, “if I’m allowed to know more, I’ll find out. Maybe have a better idea of what I’m going to do…”

Carlos nodded, but frowned a little as he looked up at the ceiling. “I’d offer to go take you, be there, you know, but I have a teleconference with my department head back in Boulder that I can’t miss. But, if you wanted to, you could come over to my place after? We could have dinner again.”

Cecil grinned widely enough for the light to flash off his teeth and nodded. “I’d like that a lot.” He moved closer to Carlos, not quite snuggling, but almost, and kissed the scientist’s cheek before murmuring, “Goodnight, Carlos.”

“Goodnight, Cecil,” Carlos echoed, returning the kiss to Cecil’s nose and shifting closer to him in turn before they both fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Cecil knocked nervously at Carlos’s door late that Monday afternoon, clutching the envelope containing his results tightly.

“Cecil,” Carlos greeted with a small smile, beckoning him inside. “So…” He thought for a moment before he decided to get straight to the point and not drag this out with too many pleasantries. “What did you find out?” he asked, once he’d shut the door behind him.

“I don’t know yet. I thought we could read the report together,” Cecil replied, his nerves eased a little by Carlos’s smile as he held out the envelope.

Carlos’s face twisted in slight confusion as he sat down on the couch, and Cecil joined him. “They don’t tell you anything while you’re at your appointment?”

“Of course not,” Cecil said with a laugh, as if the very idea was hilarious to him, “if they told you things as they found them out, they might tell you something you’re not supposed to know, and you’d have to be re-educated. Then they’d have to give you a properly censored report on your condition afterwards, anyway. This just saves so much time and effort and taxpayer money.”

That was, frankly, one of, if not the most, sensical things he’d heard in his time in Night Vale, so Carlos only nodded and watched as Cecil opened the envelope and pulled out a few sheets of paper.

Cecil shifted closer so that Carlos could read along with him. They both scanned the page for a moment before Cecil pointed to a paragraph about halfway down it. “What does that mean, Carlos?”

“It means the fetus is a little small, but not so much that they're worried or are rethinking your due date yet. It just might be inclined to be small,” Carlos replied, putting his hand on Cecil’s arm comfortingly.

“Alright,” Cecil nodded, looking a bit concerned for a moment before he finished reading the page and flipped to the second one, stopping at another paragraph. “And that one means that, if we wanted to, when we were ready, we could have sex, right?”

“Yes,” Carlos replied, blushing enough that it was visible even with his dark skin.

Cecil giggled a little, knocking his shoulder against Carlos’s playfully. He was just about to comment on the blushing when he heard a beeping coming from the kitchen.

Carlos sighed with slight relief at the easy change of subject. “Dinner’s ready, if you’re up for it,” he said, standing and heading to the kitchen to turn off the timer.

“What are we having?” Cecil asked, following after Carlos.

“Well, I wasn’t sure what you’d be up for and what agrees with you, so I decided to start with something bland and you could add whatever you liked to it...” Carlos replied, taking two large baked potatoes out of the oven before gesturing over to a series of bowls on the countertop with various toppings.

“Oh Carlos, you’re so thoughtful…” Cecil swooned a little, leaning back against a free counter space as he watched Carlos plate and cut open the potatoes, then hand a plate to him.

“It was nothing, really…” Carlos muttered, blushing again and watching as Cecil eyed the toppings. “That’s crème fraiche, not sour cream. Apparently sour cream was outlawed?”

Cecil sighed, shaking his head with a smile as he piled things atop his potato. “Of course sour cream was outlawed,” he murmured, stepping back from the counter with a potato piled with black beans, bacon, chives, and just the slightest bit of the crème fraiche, “Why wouldn’t it be? Haven’t you ever heard of the dairy riots of 1997? We had to keep order somehow.”

Carlos nodded, declining to say anything as he fixed his potato up with lots of butter and cheese and little else, and joined Cecil at the table to eat.

Once they sat down, the conversation shifted to talk of how their respective days went, other than the doctor’s appointment. Cecil commented on the oddities of subbing in for the usual morning radio host, and Carlos spoke excitedly of doing materials tests on compounds pulled up from beneath the Sand Wastes as they ate and eventually cleaned up, washing dishes and putting away leftover potato toppings.

“Thank you for going through the trouble for making dinner for me. You didn’t have to do all this, I would have eaten anything you made,” Cecil said softly as the last dish was dried and put away.

“I wanted to,” Carlos shrugged, smiling softly and leading Cecil into the living room again, “it was no trouble.” He shifted a little awkwardly, standing near the couch, “Would you, well, like to watch a movie and stay the night?”

“Of course I would!” Cecil replied, already pulling Carlos down onto the couch with him and cuddling up.

Carlos shook his head, silently chastising himself for doubting Cecil’s enthusiasm for a moment, and wrapped one arm around the broadcaster, grabbing the remote with his free hand and flicking through the channels to find a movie, eventually settling on some sort of comedy western that Cecil recognized for lack of anything better.

Eventually, there was a commercial break, and Carlos took a deep breath as he watched a bottle of ketchup breakdance atop a bun to show how it wouldn’t get ketchup water all over everything. “Now that you know that… it…’s healthy and likely that you’ll be able to carry to term, if you wanted to… Do you know if you want to yet?” he asked, trying to be as tactful as possible and not sure if he quite managed it.

“I… I know I have to decide soon,” Cecil said after a long moment of silence, curling in on himself slightly, even as Carlos rubbed his arm, “But I don’t know yet. There are reasons I shouldn't and there are reasons I should and I... I just don't know..."

Carlos nodded, keeping Cecil close. “It’s your decision, Cecil. I – I can’t promise I’ll be there long term. This is only our fourth date, I’m not even sure I can call you my boyfriend yet; I have no idea what the future will bring. But whatever you choose I’m not going to leave or condemn you for that decision.”

Cecil only nodded in reply, leaning into Carlos’s touch lightly as the commercials ended and movie began again.

Nothing else was said that evening, as Carlos ended up nodding off on the couch with Cecil in his arms, and Cecil lacked the heart to pull away from him, instead just curling up against his side and falling asleep himself after shutting off the television.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As this chapter takes place well before the episode Cassette, Cecil has no memories of a brother. He does, however, have a noncanonical sister because of all the Steve Carlsberg relation revelations that were happening as this fic was written before I stopped trying to keep up with everything new and just write the story as is.

Cecil woke the next morning, still snuggled up to Carlos. He shifted a little, earning soft, still asleep protests from Carlos and pulling a slight groan from himself as he realized how stiff he was from falling asleep mostly upright on Carlos’s couch like that. He pulled away a little more, disentangling himself from his scientist’s arms before stretching in earnest.

He arched his back to loosen it and was met with a sudden, sharp pain along his abdomen, causing him to cry out just as sharply. It only lasted a few seconds, but that was plenty long enough for Cecil to worry and Carlos to open his eyes and be concerned.

“What’s wrong?” Carlos asked, suddenly very awake but his voice still thick from sleep.

“I think something with the baby. It hurt, right along here,” Cecil replied worriedly, rubbing along his abdomen.

Carlos nodded, quickly going through possibilities of what was happening in his mind. “Does it still hurt?”

Cecil shook his head, “No, it was only for a few seconds…”

Trying to soothe Cecil, Carlos rubbed his arm and spoke softly, “Relax, Cecil. You might want to… do whatever it is you do to get medical advice in Night Vale, but I think it’s just round ligament pain.”

Cecil nodded, accepting the answer before asking, “What’s that?”

“The ligaments stretch as you move and the baby grows. Sometimes that will hurt, but it’s perfectly normal,” Carlos assured, resting his hand on Cecil’s abdomen now.

“Oh,” Cecil said thoughtfully, relaxing a little, leaning back against the couch. “How do you know all this?”

Carlos chuckled softly. “My sister got pregnant when she was 17. I was 14, and decided I had to research everything relating to it. That was how I learned I really didn’t want to go into anything related to biology.”

Nodding again, Cecil put his hand atop Carlos’s, slotting their fingers together, “Oh, alright… I’m going to be okay?”

“Probably,” Carlos assured again, “You might want to call someone, but the local medical community doesn’t seem to like to be bothered with small things, I take it?”

Cecil shook his head, “No. If it happens again for longer, I’ll see about setting up an appointment, but if you’re not worried, I’m not. You can’t just go in for every little thing or they won’t help you once it really is something serious.” He calmed a little more and thought for a moment before continuing, “So you have a sister, and probably a niece or nephew?”

“Four sisters,” Carlos corrected, “All older than me. And a total of six nieces and nephews. Three of each, so far.”

“Huh,” Cecil said softly, “That’s a big family.”

Carlos shrugged. “I guess. Maria, she’s the oldest, always said she’d only have one after growing up with the house full. She ended up having twin girls, Jaime and Alana. They’re 10 now. Ana only has one, Ricky, he’s 2, but she wants a second. Theresa has three. Ethan is 17 himself now, Eli is 13, and Elise is 5. Carmen doesn’t have any and doesn’t know if she ever will.”

Cecil couldn’t help but notice the grin that grew on Carlos’s face as he talked about his family, “You care about them all a lot, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do,” he replied, “I love my family. Even when there was a household of seven fighting for one bathroom and I said I hated them, I loved them.”

“That’s a lot of people in one household,” Cecil commented, wanting Carlos to talk more about his family now that he’d seen how happy it made him.

“It was. There were only three bedrooms, too. Mama and Dad had the big bedroom on the right side of the hall, and the five of us shared the two on the left. There were two years between each of the girls, but, well, I was a surprise,” Carlos blushed as he admitted that, “and there’s not quite 11 months between Carmen and me, so Maria, Ana, and Theresa shared the first room, and Carmen and I shared the second.”

Cecil laid his head on Carlos’s shoulder again, sighing happily. “Are you and Carmen close?”

Carlos laughed. “Definitely. Our birthdays fell on either side of the enrollment cut off for our school district. We ended up in the same grade. People always thought we were twins. Then we went to the same college for undergrad, and after she completed her masters, she ended up coming back and getting a job at the university’s library, so she was still around while I was working on my PhD.”

“Wow,” Cecil chuckled, “Carmen sounds brave, working in a library with all those librarians…” He shook his head a little and continued, “It was just me, my sister, and my mom growing up. A full house sounds neat.”

“Neat is one word for it,” Carlos replied thoughtfully, tactfully brushing over the fact that Carmen was one of those librarians.

The two stayed curled up on the couch, Carlos talking about growing up in his family, and Cecil listening contentedly, until a distant beeping interrupted them.

“Oh, my alarm,” Carlos grumbled after a few seconds of confusion, “I have to go in to the lab this morning and check some experiments that are running. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Cecil assured, “I have to go to work this afternoon anyway. Do you have time for us to eat breakfast? I could make us eggs?”

“Yeah. That’d be nice,” Carlos said, “I need to take a quick shower, so can you get things started? There’s a dozen eggs in the fridge and pans are in the cupboard next to the stove.”

Cecil nodded and got up, slowly this time, and made his way into the kitchen while Carlos went into the bathroom.

By the time Carlos was done showering, Cecil was ready with two plates of scrambled eggs. They ate together happily, and agreed to go out on another real date that Friday after Cecil was done with his show, before Carlos had to leave for the lab and Cecil went home to get ready for work himself.


	8. Chapter 8

Cecil had a few small pains the rest of the week, but nothing serious, and a few discrete questions to an intern whose sister was a nurse confirmed that Cecil had nothing to worry about. He told Carlos as much, texting him regularly throughout the week, mostly about mundane things like how the new station intern couldn’t figure out and was subsequently sucked into presumably another plane of existence by the copy machine or asking what it meant that there were supposedly 3 quakes of greater than 5.5 intensity on Tuesday, or trying to figure out dinner plans. Several of the area’s restaurants were in a state of flux, and between Cecil’s reluctance to encourage patronage of yet another Applebee’s and Carlos’s shellfish allergy, it was surprisingly hard to agree on the perfect place for their date.

By the time Friday afternoon rolled around, plans still hadn’t been quite set, but neither of them had had their weekly slice of Big Rico’s pizza and figured there was as good a place as any.

Carlos listened to the show while he worked in the lab, laughing at how excited Cecil was when he mentioned their date and texting him to let him know that he was excited too during the weather. Once Cecil signed off for the night, Carlos walked over to Big Rico’s and snagged a booth, ordering a medium wheat-free, half pepperoni with onions and peppers/half just cheese, unsure if Cecil would be up for eating much in the way of toppings, and two diet Cokes.

The food arrived just as Cecil did, the waiter setting down the pizza as Cecil slid into the seat across from Carlos.

Cecil grinned at Carlos and then took a slice of the pizza, with toppings, digging in. “Good pizza,” he murmured around a bite, “thanks for ordering.”

Carlos thought the crust tasted a bit too much like Rice Krispies, which were strangely enough, not a thing in Night Vale apparently, so no one knew what he was talking about when he commented on it, but it was slightly preferable to the sauce and cheese bowl alternative when the restaurant was low on illicit wheat, so he shrugged and agreed, “Good pizza. And it was no trouble.”

“I wasn’t feeling up to eating a good lunch so I’m starving,” Cecil apologized, once he realized he’d wolfed down an entire slice of pizza and only spoken a total of five words to Carlos since he’d arrived.

“It’s fine,” Carlos assured, though he frowned slightly at the thought of how sick Cecil had fairly consistently been for over a month now. “How was your day, otherwise?” he asked before taking a few bites of his own pizza.

“It was fairly uneventful. Looked over some ad scripts to record next week, planned out and did the show, the usual. Was very excited for our date all day,” Cecil grinned, gently poking Carlos’s leg under the table with his foot. “How was yours?”

Carlos couldn’t help but grin as he felt Cecil poke him and returned the action. “Similarly uneventful. Seismic activity seems to have returned to normal. We’ll be back to field work in the Sand Wastes again next week, most likely.”

Their conversation, and the game of footsie they had going, continued through a few more slices of pizza and a drink refill each, spanning light topics such as upcoming news segments, the merits of Pop Chips as a vending machine snack, and seismic tomography. Neither of them were exactly avoiding more serious discussion of anything, but neither was eager to bring certain topics up over pizza, either.

Eventually they asked for the check and for a box for the last two slices of pizza, Carlos paid, and he and Cecil walked out to the parking lot.

“So…” Cecil said leaning against his car and chewing at his lip, “dinner was nice…”

“Yeah, it was,” Carlos agreed, joining him in leaning against the sedan, before going quiet for a moment, then asking, ”It’s a little late to take a walk around the park, so… would you like to go back to my place? I filled out the proper forms this time. A Secret Police Officer said he’d let the last two times slide, because he knows you have a lot going on, but I took care of everything now…”

“I’d love to go back to your place,” Cecil beamed, pushing himself off the car and getting into it.

Carlos joined him in the vehicle and Cecil started on the short drive to Carlos’s home. By the time they pulled into Carlos’s driveway, he noticed that Cecil was looking a bit pale, but waited until they were inside to comment on it.

“Are you alright?” he asked, once he’d shut the door behind them.

“I’m fine,” Cecil tried to assure, but he could tell it was unconvincing, “I just hope you didn’t have your hopes up for anything romantic because eating that much pizza is suddenly a terrible choice.”

Cecil just barely finished his sentence before bolting to the bathroom, and Carlos followed, stopping outside the threshold of the door to give Cecil a measure of privacy while he heaved.

“Sorry…” the broadcaster murmured once he’d stopped for the moment, turning to look at Carlos and looking so apologetic and pitiful that Carlos could feel his heart go tight in his chest.

“Don’t worry about it,” Carlos said softly, stepping into the bathroom and rubbing at Cecil’s back. “Are you feeling better now?” When he received only a small shake of Cecil’s head in response, Carlos leaned down and kissed the top of Cecil’s head. “I’ll be right back.”

A moment later, the scientist returned with a tall glass of water, a washcloth, and a can of ginger ale with a straw in it.

Cecil smiled then, murmuring a “Thank you,” as he rinsed his mouth and wiped it off, taking a sip of ginger ale and noticing that Carlos had joined him in sitting on the bathroom floor.

“You’re welcome,” Carlos replied, shifting in an attempt to get comfortable on the cool, hard tile of his bathroom, and letting Cecil lean against him. “If it helps you feel any better, the nausea and vomiting should ease up or be over soon, either from you entering your second trimester and the hormones leveling off or by you being not pregnant anymore…” His voice was quiet, not knowing yet if Cecil had made a decision or what it was.

“Yeah,” Cecil nodded with a small sigh, curling a hand into Carlos’s shirt as he rested his head on the scientist’s shoulder, not sure if he wanted to see his reaction when he told him. “I’ve decided I’m keeping the baby…”

Carlos didn’t know how to respond to that, honestly. He wouldn’t have known how to respond if Cecil had announced he’d made the opposite decision either, so he just nodded, pulling Cecil a little closer.

“I kept thinking about Tuesday morning, when I had that pain. It was only for a few seconds but I was so scared. I thought I might be losing it, and I was just so afraid… I don’t think I’d be that scared if I didn’t want it…” Cecil continued, still not looking up at Carlos, although he curled more tightly into his side. “It’s my last piece of Earl, too, and I know he’d love it. I just… I want to give it a chance. It’s going to be hard, but, I mean, I like kids and I’m relatively financially stable. I’m better off than my sister was when she had Janice. I can make it work.”

“I have no doubts that you will,” Carlos assured, taking a moment to kiss the top of Cecil’s head before continuing, “And if you need any help, you have me.”

Cecil did look up at Carlos then, his eyes wide and shining. “Really?”

Carlos nodded. “I can’t promise forever,” he clarified, “No one really can. But I care about you and enjoy spending time with you and am very willing to offer emotional support and ginger ale and things like that.”

Pressing his lips to Carlos’s cheek, Cecil laughed, sighing happily before letting his head drop to Carlos’s shoulder, and taking one of the scientist’s hands in his own, twining their fingers together and resting them on his abdomen.

Cecil still wasn’t really showing yet, although Carlos thinks that if he’d taken measurements, Cecil would be slightly larger. There was definitely more firmness to the spot as he thumbed over it.

They stayed like that until Cecil had to pull away to be sick again, and Carlos knelt next to him, rubbing his back soothingly until Cecil was done and curled against him again.

“I think I’m done,” Cecil murmured after a few more moments and slow sips of ginger ale. “Could we go lay down for the night?”

“Of course,” Carlos replied, getting up and helping Cecil up in turn, leading him to the sink where they brushed their teeth, and then into the bedroom.

Both of them undressed in the dark, opting to just sleep in their boxers for the night before crawling under the covers and curling up with each other, falling asleep quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many wheat/gluten-free breads are made with rice flour which makes them totally taste like Rice Krispies, and while they're not really awful I'm glad I only eat them by choice rather than them being my only bread-like food.


	9. Chapter 9

“I’ve been thinking,” Cecil said softly when he noticed Carlos waking up the next morning.

Carlos replied with a sleepy “Hrm?” as he turned to look at the broadcaster, or at least at a part that wasn’t Cecil’s shoulder.

“Not only scientists think, you know,” Cecil continued, only to be interrupted by a snort and Carlos reburying his face against his neck.

“Sorry, go on,” Carlos encouraged, pulling away a little again.

Cecil shook his head playfully and carded his fingers through Carlos’s hair before continuing. “I’ve been thinking about something in particular, though. Something you said a few days ago…”

“Oh?”

“You said you didn’t know if you could call me your boyfriend yet. I’ve been thinking about it and well, yeah,” Cecil said, blushing as he did, “You can. If you want to, I mean.”

Carlos was quiet for a moment, pulling back to get a good look at Cecil’s face before letting a smile spread across his own and leaning in to kiss him gently on the lips. “Cecil, I’d love to call you my boyfriend.”

“Really?” Cecil squeaked, eyes wide and hopeful again, “Do I get to call you my boyfriend, too?”

Unable not to laugh, Carlos kissed Cecil again, nuzzling him a bit as he replied, “Of course.”

Cecil positively beamed at that, wrapping his arms around Carlos and returning the kiss, then repeating the action several more times for good measure.

“So I take it you’re feeling better?” Carlos asked, kissing the tip of Cecil’s nose.

“Much, so far at least,” Cecil replied, shifting a bit and inadvertently pressing his thigh against Carlos’s morning erection and letting out a small “oh,” in surprise.

Carlos blushed darkly, pulling away as he murmured an apology.

“It’s fine. I know how it is…” Cecil assured with a small giggle, gesturing vaguely to his own hard on, “I could take care of that for you, though, if you wanted me to…”

“You don’t have to,” Carlos assured, still blushing.

“But do you want me to?”

The scientist thought for a moment before replying, “Only if I get to take care of you, too.”

A soft smile spread across Cecil’s face. “Deal,” he said, leaning in for another quick kiss. “How, uh, do we want to do this?”

“However you want it is fine, I went out and got, um, supplies if you want to… ‘go all the way’ so to speak, but,” Carlos squirmed a little and cleared his throat, “we… don’t have to.”

“Do you have something else in mind?” Cecil asked.

“Well,” Carlos started, chewing at his lip a little, “sometimes I thought - not that I thought a lot about it - but, when I did, I was thinking that, maybe...”

Cecil reached up and ran his fingers through Carlos’s hair. “Carlos, it’s okay, you can tell me.”

“Oral sex,” Carlos finally said, letting the words tumble out and blushing so hard he was surprised his face didn’t spontaneously combust.

It was hard for Cecil not to laugh, but he made a commendable effort not to as he leaned in to kiss Carlos softly, letting his lips trail down the scientist’s jaw.

The kisses continued to trail downward along Carlos’s neck, making him gasp lightly when Cecil found a particularly sensitive spot, and to his chest, making him squirm as Cecil paid especially loving attention to the scars he bore from the Lane 5 Incident. Finally the kisses drifted down Carlos’s stomach and paused in the trail of hair extending from his belly button to beneath the waistband of his boxers, and Cecil looked up for final permission as he curled his fingers over the band of elastic.

Carlos could only nod and watch as Cecil smirked and pulled down his underwear before licking along the length and wrapping lips around the head.

A throaty groan was pulled from Carlos and Cecil pulled off then. “Too much?”

“No, just right,” Carlos whined, his hips twitching upward, trying to follow Cecil’s lips.

Cecil laughed, nodding and pressing a kiss to Carlos’s hip before resuming his previous actions, this time proceeding to suck lightly at Carlos and wrap his hand around the length.

Carlos kept his hips still then, letting Cecil do very, very interesting things with his tongue as he just teased around the head. 

It really didn’t take long for Carlos to be moaning and gasping and gripping the sheets as he fought to keep his hips still, not with it having been over a year since Carlos had gotten off with the help of anything but his own hand, and certainly not with Cecil doing things that Carlos had only previously read about in his sisters’ issues of Cosmo. He wasn’t sure if he should have been surprised or not at just how good Cecil was, but it was hard to be anything but overwhelmed for the moment.

Cecil’s tongue pressed flat to the underside of Carlos’s cock as he sucked, bobbing his head and working the remaining length with his hand. The other hand slipped back to roll Carlos’s balls gently, making the scientist yelp and buck up. 

“Oh, fuck, Cecil, I’m gonna come!”

If it was possible to smirk with a dick in one’s mouth, Cecil managed it for a moment before resealing his lips around the head and tonguing along it, working his hand faster now and sending Carlos some affirmative vibrations.

With that, Carlos was gone, crying out wordlessly as his hips jerked and he spilled into Cecil’s mouth.

The broadcaster swallowed around him, slowing his hand until Carlos had been worked through his orgasm, then pulled off gently and moved up to kiss the corner of Carlos’s mouth sweetly.

Carlos looked up at Cecil, still trying to catch his breath, and smiled. “Wow.”

Cecil laughed, burying his face in Carlos’s shoulder. “‘Wow?’ Did I really leave you that speechless?”

“Yes,” Carlos assured, wrapping an arm around Cecil and rubbing the broadcaster’s back lightly. “I’m not going to be nearly that good,” he sighed.

“You’ll be great,” Cecil protested, grinning as he laid back and pulled Carlos on top of him, kissing him and rolling his hips up to press against the thigh that had found its way between his own. “Just, um,... Can I have my hand in your hair?” he asked once the kiss broke, blushing a little, “It’s okay if you don’t like it, I know some people don’t. I won’t hold you down or pull it or anything. I just… like it and think it might be nice…”

Carlos smiled against Cecil’s jaw, kissing down it slowly. “We can try it, and if I don’t like it, I’ll say so. But I think I will.” It was the scientist’s turn to blush in turn as he dragged his lips down Cecil’s throat, pausing at the hollow of it. “You could even try pulling it a little, if you wanted to. But I wouldn’t try holding me down, during…”

Cecil made a pleased noise of understanding that Carlos could feel vibrating through the broadcaster’s throat and threaded his hand into Carlos’s hair gently, guiding him downwards. The scientist’s lips trailed over Cecil’s chest and down his stomach, not exactly pausing but pointedly pressing a kiss to the firm spot before continuing on to mouth at Cecil’s erection through his boxers for a moment, until they were shoved down with Cecil’s free hand, a soft whine escaping from his throat.

Carlos laughed then, grinning against Cecil’s thigh until the most gentle of tugs finally encouraged his attention to Cecil’s cock. He licked up the length and around the head before taking it into his mouth, letting Cecil buck lightly until Carlos was near the limit of how much he could take in his mouth, then wrapping his hand around the remainder.

The hand in Carlos’s hair tightened as Cecil moaned in pleasure. Although Carlos was less skilled, he made up for it with enthusiasm, and Cecil was nothing if not vocal regardless.

Encouraged, Carlos tried replicating a few techniques that Cecil had tried, but fell back to his old standby of sucking hard and following whatever pace was set for him by the other man’s hips.

“Carlos… oh, Carlos! Perfect of hair and of mouth! Please, I’m so close, just a little more, Carlos, please… I’m going to come...”

Carlos obliged as Cecil tugged his hair again, pressing his tongue flat against the underside of Cecil’s cock as he worked the rest in a fast but steady rhythm until the broadcaster came with little warning, giving Carlos’s hair a proper pull and bucking his hips sharply. He pulled off when the bucking was too much, causing Cecil to release mostly over his hand and partly on his face.

The scientist was already pulling away and grabbing a some tissues from the bedside table before Cecil came back to himself to realize what he’d done. “Oh, Carlos, I’m so sorry! I-”

“It’s fine,” Carlos interjected with a smile, wiping ejaculate from his chin and hand and the tip of Cecil’s cock, “I’ve had worse. Believe me.” 

The broadcaster frowned lightly as he squirmed a little under Carlos’s touch, then reached up to wipe at a spot Carlos had missed on his face. “Still, I should’ve warned you better or tried harder to keep my hips still or something. I’m sorry.”

“I should have pulled off sooner,” Carlos replied, shaking his head and pulling the bedsheet up over the both of them as he snuggled back up next to Cecil, “I’m not that big a fan of swallowing anyway. But it isn’t a big deal. Nothing ended up in my eye or anything.”

“Oh,” Cecil murmured, cuddling up to Carlos and letting the conversation drop in favor of shutting his eyes and slipping into a light doze as the man next to him did the same. At least until Cecil’s stomach decided it wasn’t fond of having anything in it during his post-orgasmic cool down, and he had to rush to the bathroom, Carlos following a few moments later with water and ginger ale.


	10. Chapter 10

The next couple weeks passed quickly. Cecil mostly regained the ability to keep the contents of his stomach (food or otherwise) where they belonged and progressed from not showing to taking to wearing Carlos’s baggy flannel button downs to hide his rapidly growing bump. He had access to them, seeing as he’d had three more dates with Carlos, all of which involved sleeping over, although they hadn’t done anything more than continue to trade blowjobs just yet.

It was at the end of their 4th date in the past two weeks, 9th date overall, when Carlos very tentatively brought the subject of Cecil stealing his shirts up. 

“You’re not going to be able to hide this forever,” he said softly, putting his hand on Cecil’s slightly rounded abdomen as they cuddled, on Cecil’s couch this time, watching a show he’s pretty sure his father would have watched growing up. 

“I know,” Cecil said, taking note of how Carlos let out a small sigh of relief that he hadn’t taken the remark poorly and thinking he hadn’t been /that/ emotional, thank you very much, “I want to wait until my next ultrasound before I announce it to /everyone/, especially after that little navel of the universe incident, just to make sure everything is okay.”

Carlos nodded in understanding. His heart had nearly stopped when he heard that Cecil was getting on the subway and he really hadn’t let Cecil have a moment to himself since he’d called the moment the show was done. “I’m surprised that they didn’t move that ultrasound up after that, but the medical community here seems really nonchalant about, well, everything.” 

“I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about,” Cecil assured, patting Carlos’s hand, “but I just want to be 100%. I’ll tell my sister when she finally gets back in town for long enough for us to do lunch without... Steve along. And I think I might tell some friends, like Old Woman Josie, or Dana if I could ever text her, or E-... somebody else about it. Just so at least someone else knows, other than us.”

Catching Cecil’s little stutter, Carlos took the broadcaster’s hand and squeezed it gently.

“He should be here,” Cecil whispered, “Not that I want to /be/ with him. And if he’s dead, he was a very hard worker, I’m not going to argue that he didn’t deserve it. But...Earl loved kids. At first he just stayed with the Scouts because he liked scouting. But then he found out he really liked working with the kids, helping them with badges, taking the Cub Scouts out on their first camp outs in the Scrub Lands, things like that… He’d want to be here.”

“I know.”

Cecil nodded and went quiet for another moment, looking down at his stomach. “Do you think it’s going to be a boy? I mean, we won’t know for sure for a few years, but do you think we’re going to have reason to start off treating it as a boy to see if it sticks, y’know?”

“Well,” Carlos began after a bit of thought, “No one on my team has done or is really in the right field to do an extensive genetics study on the population of Night Vale, and even if they had, it would be unethical to look up that information for personal use. But, to my understanding, assuming conception happened as it normally does, and also assuming you and Earl were both XY males, which you may not be, the baby would twice as likely to be male rather than female.”

Cecil accepted the answer with a small nod, and Carlos continued.

“I don’t know if it is a custom in Night Vale to determine and reveal the sex at an ultrasound, but if it is, they usually do it around 20 weeks, although it certainly isn’t rare by any means for them to be able to do so earlier.”

“You have to ask, but if you do they’ll put it in the report,” Cecil commented. “Should I ask?”

“If you want to,” Carlos replied with a shrug, “It’s up to you. You don’t seem the type to need to paint the nursery pink or blue, though.”

“Well, of course not, I don’t even have a nursery to paint, and if I did I’d use white so the runes would stand out properly,” Cecil chuckled softly, shaking his head at Carlos’s lack of ritual knowledge. 

Carlos raised an eyebrow but agreed. “Of course… You know, I have the second bedroom...”

Cecil pulled away at that, his face twisted in confusion. “Are you… implying what I think you’re implying?”

“Well, um…,” Carlos blushed a little, “If you think that I’m implying that you move in with me, then yes, I guess…”

“Really?”

“If it’s too soon, we don’t -”

Carlos was cut off by Cecil’s lips being pressed against his.

“My lease expired, like, 3 years ago and I’ve been month-to-month since. When can I move my stuff in?” Cecil asked quickly, grinning broadly.

“Uh… we could start packing stuff tonight?” Carlos replied once he’d gathered his thoughts after the kiss and the sudden question.

By the time Carlos had finished his sentence, Cecil was already climbing off the couch to pack and listing unneeded furniture on the local Craigslist, and within a couple hours, Cecil’s apartment was stripped bare, his belongings packed with surprising efficiency into his and Carlos’s cars.

When they finally got to sleep in formerly Carlos’s and now their bed, it was like Cecil had never not shared his space with Carlos, from their dishes already intermingled in formerly sparse cabinets, to Cecil’s favorite blanket draped over the back of Carlos’s old couch.


	11. Chapter 11

After the very sudden lurch forward in his homelife, Carlos needed a couple days of laying low to rebalance himself. He barely even spoke to Cecil those few days, much less his colleagues or anyone else, choosing to stay holed up in back corners of rooms, reading or writing reports and generally avoiding everyone. However, no one can stay completely avoidant forever, and at Cecil’s urging, Carlos finally dragged himself out of the house to go meet up with a friend for their bi-weekly Thursday night beers at a bar downtown. Carlos thought that if Cecil knew which friend he was getting beers with, he wouldn’t have been so adamant about him getting out of the house.

Carlos didn’t much like bars, or bar food, or for that matter, beer. He did, however, like being able to talk to people outside of work who would acknowledge the existence of mountains, and Steve Carlsberg was one of the few people in Night Vale who fit that description, and Steve could be found every other Thursday night (dollar beer night) at Pearson’s Sports Bar.

Steve wasn’t a bad guy, as far as Carlos could tell. A little counter to the way Night Vale ran, a bit of a conspiracy theorist even taking local culture into account (“The moon exists alright, but man’s never been there”), and somewhat brash especially after three beers or so, but overall a decent guy. As far as Carlos could tell, the only thing Steve had really done wrong was dare to marry Cecil’s sister while committing the crime of not knowing when to be quiet.

Carlos and Steve carefully avoided the topic of Cecil and generally got along swimmingly.

When Carlos arrived at the bar that evening, Steve was already sitting at their usual table in the back with two beers and a deliciously disgusting plate of cheese fries.

“I know we usually avoid a certain topic, but I heard through the grapevine that somebody had a big weekend,” Steve greeted with a small grin and sip of his beer.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Carlos replied with an awkward chuckle as he took a small sip from his own glass.

“I was surprised, I mean it seemed like you two were moving awfully fast,” Steve commented between eating a few fries, “but then I saw Cecil at the grocery store last night, and if he’s comfortable enough already to be letting himself go, you must be pretty serious.”

Carlos’s face twisted in confusion. “Excuse me?”

Steve grinned around a cheese covered fry. “No offense, but Ceec is looking a little thick around the middle. So either he’s already secure enough in your relationship that he doesn’t care how he looks anymore, or you managed to knock him up.”

Even in the less than bright barlight, Steve could clearly see how Carlos’s eyes went wide and how the scientist both paled and blushed as well as his complexion would allow at the joking comment. “Oh shit, you did get Cecil pregnant, didn’t you?”

“No,” Carlos said quickly, his voice hushed. “No, I didn’t get Cecil pregnant.”

“But he is pregnant, isn’t he?” Steve said, leaning in with wide eyes, but his voice, thankfully, similarly quiet.

Carlos frowned, stammering out, “That’s not really your business, Steve. Well, maybe in a round about way via your wife, but still not really.”

Steve shook his head with a sigh. “Y’know, I wish I could say this was the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of happening in this town, but I’m not sure that it is. I mean, one of my nephews is a tarantula. Night Vale messes with your idea of weird.”

“It does, but this is still weird for Night Vale, apparently.” Carlos sighed in turn and leaned back against his chair. He couldn’t believe he was talking about this with Steve of all people. Cecil would flip. “The medical community isn’t riled up about it. They’re monitoring him a little more than usual, but not worried. He says that this isn’t a thing that happens, though.”

“I’ve sure as hell never heard of it,” Steve shrugged, knocking back his beer and sliding the plate of fries towards Carlos, who accepted the offer and took a few of them. Steve thought for a moment before frowning just a little. “If it isn’t yours, Cecil either has to be a ways along or he was a lot less head-over-heels for you than we all thought…”

“He’s almost 16 weeks,” Carlos grumbled, putting a stop to Steve’s line of thought and stealing a few more cheesy fries for his trouble, “He’s planning to announce it next week, after his next ultrasound. He hasn’t told Abby yet because she’s barely been in town since he found out and everything...”

Steve nodded in understanding. “Well, props to you for staying with him. There’s plenty of guys out there who won’t stick around for their own kid, much less someone else’s. I imagine in the long run, it’ll be easier being there from the very beginning, but it’s gotta be hard right now.”

“Thanks.”

The two sat in a slightly awkward silence until Steve started in on the lack of safety in the library and all Cecil-related topics were dropped.

After another beer and a rousing discussion of municipally approved literature, Carlos headed home.


	12. Chapter 12

“Hi,” Cecil greeted when Carlos came in the door and joined him on the couch. “Old Woman Josie says ‘hi,’ too. She also says that she’s very happy for us, and The Angels, which don’t exist, of course, but if they did, bless us all.” He proudly patted at his bump, which Carlos could have sworn was smaller just that morning.

“I accidentally let Steve Carlsberg know that you’re pregnant.”

The words just kind of tumbled out of Carlos’s mouth before he could stop them. He could feel his eyes go wide, but he knew it had to be nothing compared to the look on Cecil’s face.

“Why were you even talking to Steve Carlsberg?” Cecil asked, his voice tight and measured.

Carlos let out an awkward chuckle at that, scratching at the back of his neck. “Well, you know how I go out on Thursdays?” He waited for an acknowledgement, stalling a bit, but it didn’t come and he had to continue anyway. “Steve and I get together and talk about things. Usually not you, but he’d heard that we’d moved in together and apparently he saw you at the store the other day and he made a comment that I’m pretty sure was a joke, but it was too close to true for me to laugh and then he knew and I couldn’t take it back.”

Cecil nodded then, once, sharply, before getting up and walking into the bedroom, not even needing to tell Carlos that the scientist would be sleeping on the couch that night.

Carlos’s couch was decidedly not exactly meant for naps. It wasn’t really meant for anything, it having came with the house and having obviously been someone’s a few decades ago but in storage since, and there had been discussion of switching it out for Cecil’s not yet sold sofa that weekend, but business at the lab had prevailed in squashing those plans. He was definitely going to get a different one if he had to move them both by himself after this, it taking two hours for Carlos to get comfortable enough laying down alone to even think about sleeping.

A few all too short and restless hours later, Carlos was awake again, and all he could think to do was try to make amends and perhaps also breakfast.

Cecil woke the next morning to rice flour pancakes drenched in imaginary corn syrup, a tall glass of orange milk, and a card, written in strawberry jam instead of illegal pen, reading, “Sorry for hanging out with your nemesis/brother-in-law and telling him you’re secretly pregnant :(“

“You make it hard to stay mad at you, you know,” he pouted as he sat up, letting Carlos position the tray over his lap.

“That’s the goal,” Carlos chuckled, climbing into bed beside Cecil but not cuddling up to him just yet. “I really am sorry about the whole thing. I shouldn’t have been hanging out with anyone behind your back, and I really shouldn’t have told him about the baby,” he said softly.

“It’s fine,” Cecil shrugged, starting in on his pancakes, “Well, I do feel a little betrayed. But you didn’t tell him anything the whole town isn’t going to know after Tuesday or so… So, I forgive you.” He smiled just a little, moving a little closer but not by much.

Carlos thought about wrapping an arm around Cecil, but decided against it. “Thank you,” he said, “I won’t let anyone else know anything until you’re ready to tell them. And I’ll hang out with Steve less, if it would really make you feel better. But talking to other people who recognize the insanity of Night Vale kind of keeps me sane.”

“Steve’s lived here his whole life, you know.”

“But he still knows that snow isn’t supposed to smell like meat. It’s kind of a big deal, trust me.”

Cecil sighed heavily around a sip of orange milk. “Fine. You can keep hanging out with Steve. But he never comes over to hang out with you here. And you don’t talk about me with him anymore.”

“Deal,” Carlos replied, and Cecil rewarded him with a bite of pancake, which he chewed a bit loudly, causing Cecil to frown.

“I’m still a little mad at you though,” Cecil added, “So get used to the couch for a night or two.”

“I thought you said you forgave me?” Carlos asked, a little confused.

“I did, but not enough to let you back into bed with me without delicious breakfast foods involved.”

Carlos thought for a minute before just nodding. “Fair enough. I have some intense lab work to do over the next few days and would be coming home late anyway. ...Are you still going to want me to take you to your appointment on Tuesday?”

Cecil shrugged. “We’ll see.”

Once Cecil finished his breakfast, he shooed Carlos out of bed and both men got on with their days. That evening, Carlos found out that Cecil had not been joking that morning, and became reaquianted with the couch. After that, he opted to just sleep at the lab for the next few nights. The couch there had been specifically chosen for it’s superior ability to be used for naps while working late, and he really did have work anyway, monitoring some sensitive experiments.


	13. Chapter 13

It was Monday evening, and Carlos was just about to decide if he wanted to pull another late night and set up another set of tests when his phone buzzed to the tune of “Weird Science” in his labcoat, and after a moment of consideration, he opted to answer it. 

“If you don’t come home tonight I’m going to cry,” Cecil said as soon as Carlos hit the answer button.

“Um, alright, Cecil,” Carlos replied, “There is some science to be done-”

“The bed is cold and I cried all day even though I didn’t want to and I need you to take me to my appointment tomorrow because I’m scared to go alone,” Cecil interrupted, and Carlos suddenly felt guilty for only stopping at home to grab a quick shower and change of clothes once that weekend.

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” he replied, waiting for the relieved sigh on the other end before ending the call and hurrying to their shared home.

Carlos let himself in quietly, finding Cecil waiting for him on the couch and joining him on it.

“I know I shouldn’t be so upset, but mood swings are a thing, I guess,” Cecil chucked, resting his head on Carlos’s shoulder. 

“It’s okay,” Carlos assured, “I’m not unfamiliar with the concept.” He tried to think of something reassuring to say, but that kind of fell through as he just rested a hand on Cecil’s abdomen. “Your appointment is at 9, right? We should probably get to bed, make sure you’re well rested.”

Cecil shook his head even as he got up from the couch and took Carlos’s hand, leading him into the bathroom to brush his teeth. “It’s an ultrasound, Carlos. I don’t need to ‘be well rested’. But I am tired and missed sleeping in bed with you, so I will join you.”

Carlos laughed and kept a hold of Cecil’s hand until he had to let go to put toothpaste on his toothbrush, but once the task was completed, he wrapped his free arm around Cecil, keeping him close as they crawled into bed, clothes be damned.

“Everything is going to be okay tomorrow, right?” Cecil asked as he settled into bed, kicking off his pants and socks beneath the covers but opting to keep his t-shirt on before snuggling back into Carlos’s side.

While Cecil kicked off a few articles of clothing, Carlos did the same, stripping down to his boxers and leaving everything in a pile next to the bed. He took a deep breath and carefully chose his words as he wrapped his arm around Cecil again, keeping him close. “We have no reason to think they won’t be,” he settled on saying. Carlos didn’t like to promise things he couldn’t deliver on, and honestly, he was scared, too.

Cecil was decidedly not comforted by that, and Carlos picked up on the way he fidgeted nervously, frowning a bit and giving him a reassuring squeeze, quickly thinking of something better to say. 

“Usually, if they’re going to find something wrong, they do so at the first ultrasound, and you’ve already had two that were normal,“ he said softly.

That helped a little, allowing Cecil to relax a bit and give Carlos a kiss before lying back and attempting to go to sleep.

The attempt was less than successful, however, and Cecil gave up on accomplishing anything more than a light doze after about half an hour. 

“Do you think if it’s a boy, he’ll have to join the Scouts?”

“I don’t know the numbers on what percentage of Night Vale’s male child population gets… volunteered for the Scouts,” Carlos replied honestly, and more than a little sleepily. 

Cecil nodded and turned in bed, trying to get comfortable. “I think I want to find out the sex of the baby, if I can, tomorrow. So I’m not worrying for another five months about that. I mean, just knowing either way. I’ll still be happy if it’s a boy. Or if it’s a girl. Or if it isn’t either.”

Carlos rolled over and kissed Cecil, quieting him for the moment. “Cecil, I know you’re nervous, and I don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring any more than you do. But worrying isn’t going to change anything. If you want to talk, I’ll listen, but, Night Vale has taught me that worrying over things you have no control over is, at best, an activity better confined to leisure time if it must be indulged.”

“I’m too nervous to sleep,” the radio host protested lightly, shifting again.

“Tire yourself out a little bit, then. You’ll be able to sleep,” Carlos assured. “Take a walk, do some light exercise, orgasm,” he added the last one jokingly, although he noticed how Cecil perked up at the idea.

“I know we agreed to hold off on… things… until we got another okay, but…”

“The last one sounds really nice, I know,” the scientist admitted with a chuckle, “I think that anything that would have changed since last month, well, it wouldn’t be anything that would cause us to negatively affect the pregnancy if we… did some things. Nothing more than we’ve already done.”

“Right,” Cecil nodded, waiting awkwardly for a moment before Carlos took the initiative and kissed him.

Carlos waited for Cecil’s fingers to thread through his hair before beginning to move his attentions down Cecil’s body, kissing wherever he was directed to until he reached Cecil’s boxers. He pushed them down just enough to pull out the broadcaster’s cock and stroke it to hardness before finally pressing his lips to it, teasing lightly just to hear Cecil’s little whines.

“Please, Carlos…”

The scientist stopped teasing after that, wrapping his lips around the head in earnest and taking the lead in the act for a change, gripping Cecil’s hips to keep him still as he bobbed his head slowly and deeply. Cecil’s praise was effusive and vocal as ever, but Carlos mostly paid attention to Cecil’s grip on his hair for direction and indication that what he was doing was enjoyable.

Regardless of it being a slow, careful blowjob, it had Cecil gasping and moaning soon enough. He tried to last as long as he could, loving how his boyfriend’s lips felt around him, but eventually he couldn’t last any longer and tugged sharply at Carlos’s hair, signalling for him to pull off. Carlos obliged, replacing his mouth with his hand as he pulled off and stroking Cecil quickly as he laid down next to him and kissed his lips, swallowing Cecil’s moan as the radio host released over Carlos’s hand and his own stomach.

“Feel better now?” Carlos asked as he pulled away from the kiss, stroking Cecil through any aftershocks before letting go to grab some tissues.

“Uh-huh,” Cecil murmured, his eyes already fluttering shut.

“Sleepy?”

“Uh-huh.”

Carlos tucked Cecil back into his boxers once he was cleaned up, giving him a gentle kiss and pulling the blanket back over the two of them. “Goodnight, Cecil.”

“Goodnight, Carlos,” Cecil echoed before finally drifting off to sleep in Carlos’s arms.


	14. Chapter 14

Carlos woke early, but stayed in bed by virtue of being held there very securely by Cecil.

He sighed and attempted to nuzzle Cecil awake, but stopped after a few muttered protests and dozed off again. He continued to wake and go back to sleep at Cecil’s urging for a while, until he finally caught sight of the watch he kept on his nightstand when he wasn’t studying it in the lab. It was the only one in all of Night Vale that he’d found to keep accurate time, and it read 8:45AM. A quick glance at the unreal clock on Cecil side of the bed revealed that in Night Vale time, it was 8:30AM or something like that, a few of the digits were half made up of question marks, so it was hard to tell. Either way, they were going to be late for Cecil’s appointment.

“Cecil… we really gotta wake up and get going…” Carlos murmured, pulling away from Cecil finally and poking at him a bit.

Cecil petulantly pulled the blankets up over his head, muttering “No,” from beneath them.

Carlos sighed and pulled the blankets back down, rubbing along Cecil’s arm. “I doubt the Night Vale Medical Community cares much for lateness, Cecil…”

“Maybe I’ll just never go to the doctor again.”

“If you did that, you’d be constantly worrying if the baby was okay or not. Also, you’ll have to go to the hospital eventually. I’ve read the reports, there isn’t another way the baby is getting out of you besides surgically.”

Cecil groaned but finally sat up a bit, stretching slowly and sighing heavily as he got up to get ready for the day.

It was determined that they wouldn’t have time for breakfast, but they would grab an early lunch together after the appointment, before Carlos had to check in at the lab and Cecil had to do the night’s show, where he hoped to be announcing his pregnancy, his sister not knowing yet be damned, Abby would forgive him. The broadcaster grabbed one of Carlos’s flannels in an attempt to hide his bump, a battle that was rapidly being lost, and a rubber band to secure his jeans, which he could no longer button or even zip fully, and the pair headed off to the hospital.

They arrived on time for the appointment, and filled out the appropriate paperwork with non-pens as they waited for Cecil’s name to be called, and once it was, Carlos rose to follow Cecil into the exam room.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t join Mr. Palmer for the appointment,” the nurse said, putting her hand on Carlos’s arm to halt him as he followed Cecil.

“But he’s my boyfriend, and I want him with me,” Cecil protested.

“We’re going to be looking at your insides, Mr. Palmer,” the nurse explained, a touch scandalized, “What you two do in the privacy of your own home or City Council approved self-sacrifice days at public bloodstone circles is none of our business, but it’s hospital policy to not reveal such things to people who are not immediate family members or qualified medical professionals.”

Cecil pouted, but Carlos didn’t want to make a scene, so he simply kissed Cecil’s cheek and gave his arm a squeeze. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right out here, and I don’t mind waiting.”

He watched as Cecil sighed heavily but didn’t try to argue and followed the nurse back to the exam room before he took his spot in the waiting room and grabbed a magazine.

Carlos finished his magazine. And the other magazine on the table next to him. And a magazine on the table across from him, as well as some informational literature about bloodstone rituals to maintain health, and important medical procedures to have done periodically. He even pulled out his phone and checked in at the lab, as he promised himself he wouldn’t do. While he admittedly had no idea how long regular appointments in Night Vale took, Carlos felt that this one was running long, which was rarely a good sign.

Eventually, Cecil did exit from the hallway containing the exam rooms, looking more than a little worried as he clutched at the envelope he held in his hands.

“Is everything…?” Carlos asked, but Cecil could only give him a worried little look and tap the envelope. The scientist put his arm around Cecil and gave him a soft kiss before leading him out to the car, so they could get home and read the report in private.

When they arrived home, Cecil sat down on the couch and Carlos made them each a cup of tea before joining him and pulling him close.

“It started off like normal, asking questions, a little poking and prodding, and then they said that it would be good to run some tests and then there was blood draws and something with a needle and the ultrasound…” Cecil bit his lip and laid back against Carlos, sipping his tea before handing the envelope over to him. “You read it. I’m… I’m scared.”

Carlos took the envelope and kissed Cecil’s temple gently, trying to be reassuring as possible. “Alright. I’ll read it and tell you what it says.” He took a deep breath and opened the envelope, pulling out the paperwork it contained and reading over it carefully, trying to keep any emotions off his face until he was done.

Cecil squirmed impatiently after a moment, but pointedly did not look at the paper, sipping his tea slowly. “So…”

“They ran some blood tests to make sure everything is okay with you, and so far everything seems fine. And they did an amniocentesis to check for genetic anomalies in the baby…” Carlos said, biting his lip a little, “Those results will be back in about two weeks.”

“Is that a normal test?” Cecil asked, worrying his own lip.

“It’s… not uncommon, but it’s not one they do for every pregnancy,” the scientist replied.

Cecil curled closer into Carlos’s side. “Oh… Does… that mean something’s wrong, then?”

“No,” Carlos assured quickly, “not necessarily. They did the test to check, and we’ll know in two weeks or so. The results will be mailed to you, it says here. It also says that it’s normal to experience some cramping after the procedure, and to avoid sex or strenuous physical activity until 24 hours after any cramping stops, so usually for 48-72 hours.”

“Anything else?” Cecil asked, nodding.

Carlos shook his head a bit, “Not really. The baby’s size is still a little below average, but they’re not rethinking the due date, and they don’t suspect any growth restriction problems. And they could not conclusively tell the sex during the ultrasound, but we’ll find that out when the test results come back.”

Cecil nodded again, finishing his tea and pulling away for just long enough to set the mug down before cuddling back up to Carlos. “I just want everything to be okay…”

“It’s likely that it will be.” Scientists did not work well in absolutes with these things, which consistently made Carlos awful at consoling others. He knew that Cecil was learning this, but he wanted to say more. “And no matter what, I love you,” he added.

Cecil relaxed at the words, a little smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I love you, too,” he replied simply, before being kissed. “Thank you,” he added, once the kiss ended, resting his head on Carlos’s shoulder.

“You don’t have to thank me,” Carlos protested lightly, rubbing Cecil’s arm and relaxing a bit himself. He waited a few moments before speaking again. “So, are you going to announce tonight on the show, or wait?”

“I think I’ll wait until the test results get back. I’m… I’m just scared to tell people in the first place, even though I know I need to,” Cecil looked down and rubbed over his abdomen a bit, “but… it’ll be worse if I go through with it and then… something’s wrong. I don’t think I even want to tell Abby yet...”

Carlos nodded in understanding, rubbing over Cecil’s bump as well. 

They sat quietly, cuddled up on the couch for a while, until they realized the time, and realized they both needed to get to work, leaving each other with a soft kiss and another “I love you.”


	15. Chapter 15

The rest of the week was filled with worries, but worrying wasn’t going to do anything, both Cecil and Carlos knew that, so it was also filled with as many simple distractions as they could manage, working extra and eating out and going for walks in the park, even if Cecil did have to try to do his best to hide his bump all the while. After the busy week, they decided they’d spend Sunday morning without plans, until Cecil had to go to work, at least.

Carlos woke up mid-morning to an empty bed, and quickly padded out to the living room, finding Cecil on the couch - now Cecil’s old couch, Carlos having moved the old one out the day before with the help of a colleague. 

“There you are,” Carlos said as Cecil glanced at him from his spot sprawled across the couch watching television.

“I got up to use the bathroom and didn’t think I’d get back to sleep. Also, Cat Ballou is on,” Cecil explained with a shrug, shifting to make room for Carlos.

“The bed gets cold without you,” Carlos whined lightly, curling up with Cecil.

“‘The sun shines in through the windows making it an optimal temperature at this time of day.’” Cecil quoted with a smirk, “You said that the other day when you didn’t want to get out of bed.”

Carlos chuckled, burying his face against Cecil’s neck. “It is objectively colder without you in it,” he said, “and, less objectively, due to a lack of a standard measurement of loneliness, it is also much lonelier.”

“Ohhhh. I see,” Cecil murmured, his voice hitching a little when Carlos pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw.

“Sorry...” Carlos mumbled, pulling back reluctantly, only to be pulled closer again, into a proper kiss.

“We haven’t done anything in days…” Cecil whispered, “if you want to, we can...”

“Only if you want to, I’m just… normally aroused for this time of morning.” Carlos blushed a little, pressing a kiss to Cecil’s cheek. “An acquaintance said it was an evolutionary advantage for males to impregnate females before they went off to hunt for the day. But that’s really not applicable here, as I’m not going off to do anything dangerous, you’re not female, and well...” Carlos chuckled and rubbed over Cecil’s bump, “I never read any peer-reviewed studies on it, anyway. Not remotely my field.”

Cecil laughed, giving Carlos another kiss and nuzzling at him a bit. “I want to. I want to all the time, really,” he said, sliding a hand down to rub at Carlos through the scientist’s boxers, pulling a needy little gasp from him.

“How do you want to…?”

“Just like this.” Cecil shifted, positioning Carlos’s thigh between his own and rocking up against it as he slid his hand into Carlos’s boxers to grip him properly.

Carlos caught on quickly, and after a bit more maneuvering so that he didn’t feel so precariously balanced on the couch, which while very comfortable, wasn’t exactly made for these activities, positioned himself so that he and Cecil could buck against each other properly, gripping each other, and in the end, not lasting very long despite efforts to keep it slow and sweet, getting too caught up in each other to notice Cecil’s phone going off on the end table, much less hold off on pushing each other over the edge.

They stayed on the couch cuddling after that, not minding how sticky and sweaty they were, at least until the movie was over. Then, they had to take a shower to get the sweat off, and eat a quick lunch before Cecil had to go to work and Carlos had to at least check in at the lab. 

When Carlos picked Cecil up from the station that evening, he let the broadcaster just hold him for several moments, sitting in the car in the middle of the NVCR building parking lot. 

“I am very glad you did not ring that doorbell,” Cecil eventually said quietly. “Very, very glad.”

“I’m glad, too,” Carlos replied, pressing a kiss to Cecil’s temple before catching sight of a Secret Police Officer looking at them and tapping his watch. He turned his attention back to Cecil for a moment before squeezing him and letting go. “Let’s go home, I think the Secret Police are about to collar us for loitering.”

Cecil gave a little nod and was quiet as Carlos drove them home, leaving them in silence save for the buzzy hum of Carlos’s hybrid.

Once the pair got back to the house, they went inside and curled up on the couch, Cecil practically in Carlos’s lap, and Carlos not minding at all. 

“I know you were working, but did you catch any of the show?” the broadcaster asked, his voice soft as he curled a hand in Carlos’s labcoat.

“A little bit,” Carlos replied, rubbing Cecil’s back soothingly, “I heard the end, at least.”

“I wish I could have talked to Dana some more.”

“I know.”

“If we hadn’t been on air, I would have told her about the baby.”

“I know.”

“She’d be happy for me. Us.”

Carlos wasn’t exactly sure if Cecil’s “us” was referring to Cecil and himself or Cecil and the baby, the vague gesture Cecil attempted to make not clarifying things any. “I think that she would be.”

“I wish I could just tell /someone/, but I’m afraid…”

“I know,” Carlos assured once more. “You could tell your sister, I’m sure she’d be willing to be there for you no matter what...” he said, then thought for another moment. “Did Earl have any family?”

Cecil shook his head a little. “No. Well, I mean, obviously he did at one point, but he was an only child. Never knew his dad and his mother passed years ago...”

“Oh…” The scientist replied a little sadly, the idea of telling any of the future child’s other living relatives squashed by the lack of them.

“Yeah…” Cecil bit at his lip, looking like he was about to cry.

Carlos gave Cecil a reassuring squeeze. “It will, hopefully, only be a week and a half before you can tell everyone.”

Cecil shook his head a little, burying it in Carlos’s shoulder. “If everything is okay. Which I hope it is. But I just realized, the baby… they’re all that’s left of Earl. They aren’t going to have anything to know him by…”

Tears began to well in Cecil’s eyes, and he let them fall, quickly creating a damp spot on Carlos’s labcoat as the scientist rubbed Cecil’s back and carded through his hair. “Cecil, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay. There are pictures of Earl, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And the Scouts are buying that memorial bench for him, in Mission Grove Park?”

“Uh-huh. I should remind people about that on air tomorrow. They reached their goal already, but they’ve still got a week and a half left before they place the order and they’d like something really nice, you know.”

“Earl touched the lives of a lot of people, Cecil,“ Carlos said softly, “He was a good man, and as long as people are allowed to keep those memories, his child will know that.”

Cecil buried his face further against Carlos’s chest, giving him a small noncommittal nod and sniffling. “Gods… People die and otherwise stop existing on this plane all the time. I report on it every day… Why is Earl Harlan’s of all people’s making me feel like this?”

“Maybe people drop out of our lives every day, Cecil, but you aren’t carrying the child of those people,” Carlos reminded, “and although some of those people may be your coworkers and acquaintances or even friends, most of them aren’t people who you love. I heard you over the speaker that night at the bowling alley, when you thought I was dead. I heard how torn up you were, and we weren’t nearly as close as you ever were to Earl.”

“I guess….” Cecil sighed, sniffling again.

They sat quietly together for a while, Carlos letting the damp spot on his labcoat grow until the tears finished rolling down Cecil’s face.

“Big Rico’s delivers on Sunday nights, right?” Carlos asked, once Cecil pulled back a bit.

“Of course they do. The only time they don’t deliver is cancelled days and between the hours of 11pm and 10am,” Cecil tsked, slightly amused at Carlos’s inability to remember Big Rico’s hours of operation.

“Then how about we get some pizza for dinner and watch a movie?”

Cecil smiled and rested his head on Carlos’s shoulder again. “That sounds… perfect.”


	16. Chapter 16

Carlos wasn’t exactly sure of the state of the time shift Night Vale seemed to exist in at that moment, he’d have to run some tests if he got a free moment in the lab, but if his casual observations of the way time seemed to drag were worth anything - they weren’t, but idle speculation was rarely particularly harmful - he’d venture to say that time was moving more slowly than normal again. Of course, it may have actually been moving faster, but waiting for news did nothing to speed it in terms of actuality nor perception, and there were only so many ways to be distracted to begin with, especially when Cecil wasn’t even up for leaving the house when he didn’t have to anymore, wearing jeans or any other non-stretchy pants being a lost cause at this point, and his bump not getting any easier to hide.

But, continued attempts at keeping busy were made and when Thursday rolled around, Cecil went to his sister’s hoping to tell her of the pregnancy, and Carlos went to have his bi-weekly beer with Steve Carlsberg.

“So, did you not tell Cecil about last time, or are you sneaking around?” Steve chuckled, pushing Carlos’s beer towards him as the scientist sat down at their usual table.

“Cecil knows about last time. And he knows I’m here. With you. He isn’t happy about it, but he knows. … He’s really not happy about that… I’m also not supposed to be talking about him…” Carlos muttered a little guiltily into his beer, eyeing the plate of cheesy fries.

Steve shook his head and pushed the plate over towards Carlos as well. “Got you in trouble with the ol’ ball and chain, eh?”

Carlos took a particularly cheese-covered fry and took a bite of it. “I suppose you could say that. We made up,” he sighed. “Speaking of… ‘ball and chain’s, Cecil is planning to tell Abby about… you know… tonight if he can get a moment away from Janice to tell her.” 

“Which means he won’t get a chance to tell her,” Steve chuckled good naturedly, “Uncle Cecil is probably Janice’s favorite person in the world.”

“I hope that he can, though,” Carlos sighed, “There’s… a reason that everyone doesn’t know yet and the wait and the worry is getting to him…”

Steve’s eyes went a little wide with worry as he leaned in. “Is everything alright?” 

“As far as we know right now. But we’re waiting on test results… There’s a lot of… not knowing in Night Vale.”

Steve nodded knowingly, leaning back against his chair. “Tell me about it,” he huffed, taking a sip of beer before continuing, “If you ever need anything, even if it’s just something to rile Cecil up with, or a beer not on a Dollar Beer Night, let me know.”

“Thanks, Steve,” Carlos replied, having a swallow of his own drink and letting there be not quite comfortable silence for a while, before asking what sport was playing on the television in order to change the subject.

Meanwhile, Cecil sat on the edge of his niece’s bed, reading aloud in his soothing radio voice about young maidens and why it was important to listen to old hags.

“Read me the lindwyrm story again, Uncle Cecil!” Janice asked, looking up at Cecil with wide, ever so slightly pleading eyes eyes.

“Uncle Cecil is tired,” her mother interjected from the doorway with a fond sigh, “and you should be too.”

“But Moooooom, it’s barely my bedtime, and I’m 10, I should get to stay up later!” she protested. 

“It’s already a quarter past 8 and you haven’t even brushed your teeth yet.”

Janice looked to Cecil, and he nearly gave in, but a quick glance to his sister and her glare gave him new resolve. “I think you should listen to your mother. You’ve got school in the morning.”

With a pout, Janice slid off the bed and into her chair, wheeling herself to the bathroom to brush her teeth. 

Cecil stood up and stretched carefully, putting the book back on the shelf and walking out of the bedroom with a fond sigh.

“You really do look tired, Cecil,” Abby said softly, leading Cecil down the hall, “are you feeling alright?”

“Heh,” Cecil chuckled, running his hand through his hair before taking a seat on Abby’s couch and patting the spot next to him, “about that…”

Abby’s brow furrowed as she sat down next to her brother, waiting for him to go on.

“I’m not dying, or anything, it’s just…”

“Cecil, you’re worrying me, and you hate to worry me.”

“I’m pregnant.”

There was a long moment of silence as Cecil waited for a reaction and Abby gave him none.

“What?” she finally managed, blinking a few times in disbelief.

“I’m pregnant.” Cecil repeated. “I know, it’s weird. I didn’t know what to think at first. And poor, sweet Carlos…,” he shook his head a little, thinking about how huge this was for his boyfriend, “But I am. Confirmed with blood tests and ultrasounds and everything. I’ve got the paperwork in my bag.”

Abby looked at her brother carefully. It wasn’t that she hadn’t noticed his weight gain or more casual than normal - even for him - fashion sense. But it just didn’t make sense. She thought for a long moment before letting it all sink in. “Oh Cecil, is that why you moved in with Carlos so quick?,” she asked, genuinely concerned, “I mean, it’s great that you two feel confident enough in your relationship to do that, but moving things fast because someone’s pregnant is an awful idea. You shouldn’t have to learn that first hand, too. Promise me you’ll get out if you’re ever just staying together because of the baby. You can have the guest bedroom.”

“I will,” Cecil assured, interjecting and putting a hand on his sister’s arm. “And we didn’t move in together just because I’m pregnant.” Cecil paused, then frowned, before continuing, “Okay, we did, but it isn’t how you think.”

“So you two are just roommates? Who are also boyfriends who are having a child?” Abby asked skeptically.

Cecil squirmed a little. “No… He just didn’t ask me to move in with him out of obligation, you know? It’s, um… not Carlos’s baby.” Seeing his sister’s eyes go even wider than they were before, he quickly explained. “I didn’t know it, but I was pregnant before he and I got together. It… it’s Earl’s....”

Abby wrapped her arms around her brother the second Earl’s name passed through his lips, and gave him a reassuring squeeze. It was another moment before she spoke. “If it’s Earl’s, you’ve got to be…”

“Seventeen weeks,” Cecil said softly. “I didn’t know until I was almost twelve, and… things have been going on, and you’ve been in and out of town. Otherwise I would have told you sooner…”

“Things?” Abby asked softly but curiously.

Cecil swallowed hard and rested his head on his sister’s shoulder. “Right now, we’re waiting on test results, to make sure everything is okay. And the fact that they even wanted to run tests they don’t normally run makes me afraid that something isn’t…” 

“Oh, Cecil, you can’t think like that-”

“But what if something is?”

“Then you’ll have a family who loves you to support you through it.” Abby said simply.

Cecil was quiet for a moment, then nodded, taking a deep breath and giving his sister a tight squeeze before pulling back. “Thanks, Abby.”

“Don’t mention it,” Abby shrugged with a smile before taking a good look at her brother. “Wow… you’re /pregnant/…”

“Uncle Cecil’s gonna have a baby?” A voice said from behind the couch, startling both Abby and Cecil. 

“Uh, well…” Cecil swallowed hard, looking back at his niece and then to his sister, his eyes wide. 

“Come around to the front of the couch, honey, and we’ll talk about it,” Abby interjected, motioning for Janice to wheel herself around the front, then helping her onto the couch to sit between the two adults. “Uncle Cecil is pregnant,” she continued, only to be interrupted.

“So he’s gonna have a baby?” 

“I really hope so,” Cecil replied after a moment of not knowing what to say. “But being pregnant doesn’t always mean that.”

Janice looked at him with confusion until her mother started speaking.

“Sometimes people get pregnant, and they know they can’t handle a baby right now for some reason, so they choose not to have it. And sometimes, things happen and the baby can’t be born. That’s a really scary thought. Right now, Uncle Cecil is just a little scared for his baby.”

“Oh,” Janice said with a nod, turning back to her uncle. “When I’m scared I sometimes still hold my teddy bear, the one with the pocket for ammunition. Do you wanna borrow it until you’re not scared for your baby anymore?”

Cecil couldn’t help but smile at Janice, shaking his head a little, even as tears welled in his eyes, and he pulled her into a hug. “No, sweetie, you keep him. I think I’ll be okay without him. Thank you, though.”

Janice returned the hug and rested her head on Cecil’s chest. “Okay… Can I feel the baby?”

“The baby isn’t quite big enough to feel moving yet,” Cecil said softly, before taking Janice’s hand and putting it on his abdomen anyway, “but once they are, I’ll let you. And for right now, the baby’s right here.”

“Cool,” the little girl whispered, feeling the firmness of her uncle’s stomach.

Cecil chuckled again. “Yeah, cool.”

The pair sat cuddled up together for a while, until Janice yawned a little and Cecil echoed it. 

“I think someone needs to be going to bed, maybe more than one someone,” Abb y laughed.

“Okay…” Janice relented with a whine. “Uncle Cecil, can you carry me?”

“Honey, I think -”

“Of course I can carry you,” Cecil assured, ignoring a concerned glance from his sister as he got up slowly and scooped up his niece, carrying her back to her bedroom, laying her in bed and tucking her in carefully. “Now, Janice, I’m only telling people who I’m really close to and love very much about the baby right now, until I’m less scared. So even if you’re really excited about being a big cousin, you can’t tell everybody just yet, okay?”

“Okay. It’ll be our secret,” Janice murmured sleepily, snuggling into her pillow.

“Yeah,” Cecil chuckled, leaning down to kiss his niece’s temple. “Sweet dreams, Jani.”

Janice whispered a soft “Goodnight Uncle Cecil,” before shutting her eyes as Cecil stood upright and left her to sleep, turning off the light and shutting her door lightly.

“So…” Abby said when Cecil rejoined her on the couch, “I’m guessing you’re rather I not talk about this with Steve?”

“About that…” Cecil chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck, “Steve, actually already knows…” 

He winced a little at the look Abby shot him before explaining. “Carlos accidentally told him. They go out for beers together sometimes, apparently. And Carlos let it slip.”

His sister was still frowning, but she accepted the answer. “Okay. I forgive you. And Carlos. Assuming you forgive Carlos?”

“Yeah, I forgive Carlos. I’m not happy that he’s been hanging out with Steve of all people behind my back, but we talked it out. “

“Good,” Abby said with a smile, pulling her brother into a hug. “You should get home to that scientist of yours and get some rest.”

Cecil rolled his eyes playfully. “If you want to mother someone, you’ve got a ten year old in the other room, you know…” he teased.

“Yeah, but she’s asleep right now. And generally better at taking care of herself than you are,” Abby teased in turn, giving Cecil a squeeze before letting him go and getting a bit more serious. “If you need anything at all, I’m just a phone call away. Even if I’m out of town. And you’ve got Steve’s number, too.”

“I know, I know,” Cecil assured as he was lead to the front door. “Love you, Abby.”

“Love you, Cee,” Abby waved as she watched Cecil walk to his car and drive off.

By the time Cecil got home, Carlos was just arriving as well.

“How’d it go?” the scientist asked, opening the door for Cecil and greeting him with a peck on his cheek.

“I told Abby. And accidentally Janice,” Cecil said softly, “It went okay. It’s… weird to explain that babies don’t always end up born to a ten year old.”

Carlos nodded, shutting and locking the door behind them as he slipped out of his shoes and hung up his lab coat. “How’d they take it?”

“Abby was more than a little shocked. But supportive. Janice took it in stride. She’s excited to feel the baby kick soon,” Cecil chuckled a little, taking off his shoes and leading Carlos into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

“That’s good to hear,” Carlos assured, wrapping his arms around Cecil once they stood at the sink, “I’ve gotta admit, I am too.”

Cecil laughed, kissing Carlos’s cheek once before beginning to brush his teeth, humming happily. “I think things are going to be okay. I hope things are going to be okay. I feel like things might be okay,” he said, as much to himself as to Carlos after he spit, before rinsing his mouth and leading the scientist into bed.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter I do vaguely describe Earl and Cecil using my own headcanons (Earl is based off, but not quite like videntefernandez's Earl, and Cecil is half Native American, and mostly my own creation). If this really bothers you, you can skip it and continue visuallizing Earl and Cecil as you like because I don't plan on describing them much more in this fic.
> 
> This chapter is also dedicated to punkrockgaia because her birthday is coming up! Happy Birthday, I hope it's wonderful because you are wonderful and a great writer and it amazes me that you read my fic.

Cecil and Carlos managed to make it through another weekend, staying in and trying not to worry about what the future held. There wasn’t much talking at that point, just a lot of cuddling and pointedly watching movies neither of them really wanted to watch, with a few showings of Cat Ballou thrown in. But finally, it was Tuesday, two weeks from when the tests had been conducted, and things were tense as both men pushed food around their plates and waited for the mail to arrive.

“I’ll get it,” Carlos said, putting a hand on Cecil’s shoulder as he stood once the mail truck had passed their home. “Just… relax okay. I’ll get it.” 

Cecil wanted to protest, but he was afraid of what could be waiting for him, and in the end could do nothing but nod and stay put at the breakfast table as Carlos went out to the mailbox. 

The scientist made his way to the metal box near the walkway, sure to say the proper chant for ensure it was safe to put a hand inside, and pulled out only a few flyers and one small envelope, not addressed to Cecil. He took breath before putting his hand in again, hoping that there was something he’d left inside the mailbox, but there was nothing. “We have… a flyer for a school supply clearance sale, another for a charity jacket drive, and the cable bill… No test results,” Carlos said, just a little sadly as he stepped back into the house, not able to look at Cecil’s face as he gave him the news. “We could… try calling the hospital, see if the results are ready?”

“No,” Cecil said shaking his head and doing his best to not cry, “they always send you the results in the mail. Always. They’re just… not ready yet…” He took a breath, his voice cracking halfway through the sound, before continuing. “That… that doesn’t mean anything is wrong. It just means… the results aren’t ready yet. And that’s… that’s…” Cecil couldn’t keep his voice steady then, letting it crack and become a sob, “Why aren’t the results ready, Carlos? They said two weeks...”

Carlos quickly hurried to Cecil’s side, wrapping his arms around him and guiding him to the couch. “There are lots of reasons test results aren’t available on time. Maybe there was an equipment malfunction or a sample was contaminated, so a test had to be re-run. Or maybe they sent the results, but they were misplaced in the mail. These things happen, and it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong,” he assured, letting Cecil cry against him. He continued to soothe the broadcaster for several more minutes, just rubbing his back and keeping him close before tentatively asking, “Cecil, is there anything specific that you’re afraid of being wrong?”

“Like what?” 

“Is there anything that runs in the family? Are you afraid of the baby having the same condition as Janice?”

Cecil pulled back to look at Carlos with confusion. “Why would I be afraid of that? I mean, I admit, it was hard at first, Abby couldn’t hold her until she was three days old, you know, and she had so many surgeries when she was tiny, but Janice is a happy, healthy little girl…” he said before going a bit quiet. “I just… I’m mostly afraid of /never/ getting to hold my baby… not getting to see what they look like…”

Carlos nodded, pulling Cecil close again. “Alright,” he said softly, rubbing Cecil’s back again. “I don’t think that you have to worry about that, Cecil,” he assured, “it’s just… your situation is unusual and they want to find out all they can. Were I the sort of scientist that studies living things, I would ask to study you…”

Nodding, Cecil sniffled a little. “You’re probably right. That’s it… But what if it’s not?”

“Then you’ll have me, and your family, to love and support you,” Carlos said softly, kissing Cecil’s temple again.

The broadcaster was quiet for a long time after that, bringing his hand up to card through Carlos’s loose curls as he thought and calmed himself. “What do you think the baby will look like?” he asked.

“They’ll be beautiful,” Carlos assured, “But more specifically, well, I don’t think I ever met Earl Harlan, so I’m not sure what he looked like...”

Cecil frowned a little bit before pulling back without a word and getting up to grab a photo album from the shelf. “That’s Earl,” he said, pointing to an old photograph of two young men, one obviously a younger Cecil - a bleached streak in his dark hair and his violet-blue eyes unfocused - barely standing of his own accord, and a redhead with reddish-brown mismatched eyes next to him, holding him upright.

Carlos nodded and looked at the photograph for a moment, as if studying it, before speaking. “Well, I can’t say anything definitively, because there are so many genetic factors that go into human appearance, but darker skintones, hair, and eye colors have a tendency to be more dominant. Coloring wise, I’d bet they look more like you than him.”

Frowning again, Cecil nodded before sighing and looking down at the photograph, laying his head on Carlos’s shoulder. “Do you think they’ll have freckles? Early was freckly.”

“I don’t know. But freckles are the result of sun damage, and it’ll be a few years before we see if they’re prone to them or not.”

“Oh.” Another sad little sigh passed over Cecil’s lips, confusing Carlos for a moment before the scientist wrapped his arm back around him and gave him a gentle squeeze.

“I’m sure there will be a lot of Earl in them regardless. And you, and I, and other members of this community will make sure they know about the man their father was,” Carlos whispered, turning his head to give Cecil a small kiss. 

“If you say so,” Cecil sighed once more, but he returned the kiss with a small smile, letting his boyfriend comfort him until it was time for both men to busy themselves with work.


	18. Chapter 18

It was two more agonizing days past when their results were due before Carlos opened the mailbox to find an envelope from the hospital. With as awful as not knowing was, he didn’t think that knowing could be any worse, so he didn’t hesitate to head back inside quickly and present Cecil with the envelope.

“You open it,” Cecil said, going a bit pale as he pushed the envelope back into Carlos’s hands. “I… I can’t do it, and you’d need to explain it to me anyway.”

Carlos nodded, not caring to protest as he took Cecil’s hand and lead him to the couch, letting his boyfriend curl up against his side for comfort as he opened the envelope slowly and pulled out the papers it contained.

It was several long moments of reading, Carlos’s face emotionless to the point that Cecil had to bury his own against the scientist’s chest to make himself stop looking and worrying, before the paper was put down. “So…?”

“According to the results of various tests,” Carlos began, before cracking a smile, not that Cecil could see it, “you, Cecil Palmer, are set to have a healthy baby girl, due around February 7th, 2014, without foreseen complication other than mandatory cesarean section delivery. Provided that you continue with monthly doctor visits and follow recommendations given, which are so far to maintain a healthy lifestyle without any activity restrictions at this time.” 

Cecil pulled back to look at Carlos, mulling the words over. “Healthy baby girl?” he asked, wanting to make absolutely certain that he heard correctly.

Carlos saw tears welling up in Cecil’s eyes and felt the same in his own as he nodded. “That’s right.”

The next thing he knew, Cecil’s mouth was crashing against his own, muffling the broadcaster’s happy shriek. Carlos scrambled to return the kiss, wrapping both arms around Cecil and holding him close. 

Eventually, Cecil pulled away from the kisses and laid his head on Carlos’s chest again, pausing to catch his breath as Carlos’s hand made its way down to rest on the ever growing swell of Cecil’s abdomen.

“That’s our baby,” Carlos said wistfully, rubbing over the bump, before coughing a little and correcting himself, “Your baby.”

“You had it right the first time,” Cecil said with a shake of his head, letting his hand join Carlos’s on his stomach, “That’s our baby…”

“Ours,” Carlos repeated softly, leaning down to kiss Cecil’s abdomen, before sitting back up and kissing his lips once more. “That’s amazing.”

“I know,” Cecil laughed, snuggling back up to Carlos for a few moments and just enjoying how happy and close they were. “I should call my sister,” he said eventually, pulling away a bit.

“I should probably start figuring out how to tell my family,” Carlos chuckled, giving Cecil one more kiss before letting him pull back.

Cecil returned the kiss and stood, taking his phone and heading into the bedroom for a little privacy as he called Abby.

Regardless, Carlos could still hear every happy giggle and soft shriek of joy from both ends of the line, as he pulled out his own phone and casually messaged his sister Carmen about Skyping and meeting his boyfriend sometime.

About half an hour later, both men had finished their conversations with their siblings and reconvened on the couch. 

“Abby is taking me out tomorrow since we both have the day off. Shopping, lunch, getting some of her old maternity clothes out of storage and seeing what I can wear. It’s all almost 11 years old now and any pants might be a little short on me, but stretchy jeans are stretchy jeans, you know?” Cecil said, giving Carlos a soft kiss in greeting. 

“That sounds nice,” Carlos replied, “What do you think of meeting my sister via Skype before you go to work tonight?”

“So soon?” Cecil asked, before scrambling to correct his words, “I mean, not that it’s too soon to be meeting family, you should really properly meet my sister and my niece -you’ll love Janice- but I just mean on such short notice?”

Carlos shook his head a little, “It’s fine if you don’t want to, I just sent her a message saying that we should catch up sometime, and she was all for it and said she just got off work and was free this afternoon, so I told her I’d ask you if you were up to it...”

Cecil thought for a moment before nodding. “I would love to meet your sister via Skype,” he said softly.

The scientist grinned, giving Cecil another kiss before getting up to get his laptop from the other room. “You go get ready for work, and I’ll let you know when we’re done catching up on things that aren’t related to you, okay?” 

“Alright,” Cecil sighed happily, getting up and heading for the bedroom to change for work that later afternoon.


	19. Chapter 19

Carlos was a little nervous as he turned the computer on and opened Skype, sending his sister a message, only to be immediately greeted with a request for a video call. It took him a moment to get settled on the couch before he answered with a smile. “Hey, Carmen.”

“CARLOS!” the woman on the screen half shrieked with a grin, “Do you know how long it’s been since you’ve bothered to /call/ your own sister?”

“Too long, I know, too long,” Carlos sighed playfully, grinning into the webcam in turn.

“That’s /right/! So how has your science been going? Anything exciting? How’s your boyfriend? You know, Maria had to find out through Mama that you had a boyfriend. That’s why you’re apparently not getting nice school pictures of the girls until you call her, too.”

“I know, I‘m a terrible brother,” Carlos laughed, “There’s just been a lot going on. Science has been great. Lots of very interesting things. I think for the first time in my adult life I’m not worried about running out of grant funding. And about Cecil…”

Carmen frowned a bit at how Carlos trailed off, “Trouble in paradise?”

“No,” Carlos assured quickly, “opposite of that, actually… ‘Paradise’ is … living up to it’s name.”

“Oooh? So what is it?”

“Well… I didn’t tell you, or anyone in the family actually, but… a little while back… Cecil and I moved in together.”

“WHAT!?”

“Carmen-”

“Things are that serious between you two already?”

“Well, yes and no. I mean, I love Cecil, and things are going really well, and I’m really glad I moved in with him but-”

“But what?”

“Well, my decision to move in so soon was influenced by another factor-”

“Which was?”

Carlos took a deep breath to steel himself before breaking the news. “Cecil is pregnant.”

Carmen was quiet for a moment after hearing that, mulling over what that implied, before finally speaking. “Carlos Emanuel Ramon-Vazquez… Mama is going to KILL YOU! Boyfriend, Carlitos!? Your BOYFRIEND is pregnant!? You didn’t put a ring on his finger when you found out he was having your baby!?”

“Carmen, please calm down-”

“I know that a lot of people don’t like getting married for the children anymore, but having a CHILD is so much more of a commitment than getting married is, and just think of Mama and -”

“Carmen!” Carlos interjected, “Can I get a word in?”

Carmen huffed, but nodded, waiting for Carlos to continue.

“Cecil’s baby, technically, in the biological sense anyway, isn’t mine-”

“WHAT!?”

“Carmen-”

“Carlitos, what have you got yourself into!? There’s noble and then there’s stupid and-”

“Let me finish!” Carlos paused, waiting for his sister to interject again. When she didn’t, although it looked like she really wanted to, he took a breath and began to explain. “Cecil hasn’t cheated on me and isn’t just using me or anything like that or whatever you’re thinking. We’re very happy together. A few weeks before we got together, he had a fling with an old flame who isn’t around anymore. Neither of us knew he was pregnant when we started dating. He told me as soon as he found out, and we decided to continue things anyway because I really like him and wanted to see how things would go regardless of him being pregnant. And things have been going really, really well. I was the one who suggested we move in together because I wanted to support him and his decision to keep the baby, but I don’t really want to rush things further than that. Cecil… has the greatest voice, and he uses it to say the sweetest things about me, and he’s so caring and open and, frankly, a little overwhelming at times, but in a good way, and I love him. So I hope that you don’t have a problem with any of that.”

As Carlos was speaking, Cecil stepped out of the bedroom, shrugging on one of the scientist’s flannels to help hide his bump for one last night, and couldn’t stop tears from welling up as he listened to what his boyfriend had to say about him. “Oh, Carlos…” he half whispered, finishing his journey to the couch and joining his boyfriend on it, sitting practically in Carlos’s lap, “I love you, too.” 

Carlos returned the kiss after a moment, too surprised and startled to do so immediately, before attempting to slide Cecil off his lap and break the kiss, gesturing to the computer. “Cecil, this is my sister Carmen. Carmen, this is my boyfriend Cecil.”

“Hi, Carmen,” Cecil greeted, blushing just a little when he realized he’d practically pounced on Carlos in front of his sister, “Carlos has told me a lot about you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Cecil,” Carmen said after a moment, “Carlos has told me a lot about you, too.”

“Good things, I hope,” Cecil chuckled, blindly groping for Carlos’s hand and holding it tightly once he found it. “He’s said lots of good things about you. He loves his family very much, I can tell.”

Carmen laughed lightly, politely ignoring how her brother leaned in to give Cecil a kiss on the cheek as she answered, “Good things. He also told me about… your little coming addition… Congrats.”

Cecil and Carlos both blushed a little, free hands meeting on Cecil’s abdomen. 

“Thank you. Did he tell you it’s a healthy girl?” Cecil asked, looking down at his and Carlos’s hands together.

“No, he didn’t get that far actually,” Carmen replied, “I’m glad everything is going okay, even if the situation is a little unusual. From how Carlos has talked about you before he told me that you too are already living together and starting a family, I can tell you make him very happy, so I’m happy for you.” Her expression got just a hint sharper as she continued, “Now, I don’t want to threaten someone in a delicate condition, but Carlitos is my baby brother, and I am a little protective of him. So are our three older sisters. He’s Mama’s favorite, too, and Daddy’s only boy. So there’s a lot of us who don’t take kindly to people who would break his heart.”

“Carmen!” Carlos chastised, huffing and turning to Cecil, “She doesn’t mean it-”

“She means it,” Cecil corrected, earning a nod from Carmen. “And I understand. I have no intention of breaking Carlos’s heart. I love him, very much. He could have walked out of my apartment the moment I told him that I was expecting and never looked back and I wouldn’t have blamed him. But instead we’re starting a family together. Carlos is… Perfect. I’m incredibly lucky to have him and I’m not going to do anything to ruin that.”

Carmen nodded again. “Well, good,” she said, “I’m glad you two found each other.”

“We’re glad, too,” Carlos interjected, “Now please don’t threaten my boyfriend ever again.”

“I won’t, so long as I don’t have a reason to. Now, Cecil, you two are taking care of each other right? You’re being good to my brother and he’s making time for you away from his science?”

“I’m as good to him as I can be,” Cecil laughed, “And he does make time for me. Usually...-”

“Carlos! You can’t neglect THIS boyfriend and get all caught up in your science. There’s more here at stake than just a cute boy, even if this one is very cute and really does have a nice voice, you were not exaggerating at all, Carlitos. You go… make him dinner or something!” Carmen insisted sharply.

“I’m not neglecting him!” Carlos protested.

“He really isn’t,” Cecil assured before turning to Carlos, “Although I wouldn’t mind at all if you made dinner a little more often. I’ve got to get going to work soon, so not tonight, and I know you’ve got a lot going on at the lab tomorrow, then Saturday is alway pizza night. What about Sunday?”

Carlos gave a little sigh and half a glare to the webcam before turning to Cecil. “I’d love to make you dinner Sunday night.”

Cecil grinned and gave Carlos a kiss to the cheek before being interrupted by Carmen.

“Aww. You two are cute,” she said, laughing when she caught Carlos’s eye roll, “And don’t roll your eyes at me. Or grumble.”

Carlos shook his head as Cecil giggled a bit at Carmen’s scolding. “Yeah, yeah... Listen, Cecil’s gotta get to work, and I need to work on figuring out how to tell everyone else the news, so I should probably let you go.”

Both Cecil and Carmen pouted a little at that, but Carlos took care of Cecil’s pout with a kiss, and Carmen laughed lightly again. 

“Alright, I’ll let you two lovebirds be. It was very nice meeting you, Cecil. Congratulations, to the both of you. And Carlitos, call your family more often. And take care of your new family, too, okay?”

Carlos sighed a little and nodded, “I will. You take good care of yourself, Carmelita.”

“It was nice to meet you too, Carmen. Thank you,” Cecil added, giving her a little wave and getting one in return before the call ended and he leaned back against Carlos. “I like her,” he said with a grin. 

“I’m pretty sure she likes you, too,” Carlos assured, rubbing over Cecil’s stomach slowly. “I think I’m going to call Mama while you’re at work. Just so I have the time to explain everything to her. And then we’ll move on to Maria and Theresa and Ana this weekend,” he added.

Cecil nodded. “Isn’t your mother going to want to talk to me, though?”

“Yes, but it will be easier if she doesn’t, right away,” Carlos explained. “So are you going to tell everyone about this,” he continued, his hand still rubbing over Cecil’s bump, “on air tonight?”

“I should,” Cecil said simply.

“But...?”

“I need time to think of what I’m going to say and how I’m going to say it. If I’m going to let people know she’s Earl’s, things like that…”

Carlos nodded and pressed a kiss to Cecil’s cheek. “I understand. You tell people what you want to, when you’re ready.”

Cecil nodded and turned his head to catch Carlos’s lips briefly before looking down to the watch on the scientist’s wrist. “I should be heading to work,” he sighed softly, standing up. “Good luck talking to your mother.”

“Thank you,” Carlos replied, taking Cecil’s hand and squeezing it before letting him go. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Cecil echoed, giving Carlos a little wave before heading to the station for the evening.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapterlet that didn't want to fit well with the previous or the next chapter. It makes a good section break for the fic in general, though.

When Cecil got home from the station that night, he came home to a dark house, Carlos having crawled into bed after the conversation with his mother. He decided to turn in earlier than usual, undressing after locking the house up and sliding into bed next to his boyfriend.

“Hey,” Carlos murmured, stirring awake when Cecil joined him, “How was the show? I didn’t get a chance to listen, I had a… very long conversation with Mama.”

“It was just fine. You didn’t miss anything important,” Cecil assured, letting Carlos wrap his arms around him and pull him closer. “How was that conversation, other than long? Does she want to talk to me? Did you call anyone else yet?”

“It was fine,” Carlos replied, “She cried. She threw the phone once, but she was on the corded one in the kitchen that’s older than I am, so it was alright. There was a lot of explaining. A lot of yelling. When she talks to you, and she really wants to talk to you, she might ask rude questions about your gender and genitals and all that, but it’s okay to deflect them, she knows that she shouldn’t ask those things. I just have a feeling she will anyway. Ana was there, too. So she knows now. She helped talk Mama down, along with Dad. But it’s all okay.”

Cecil frowned and carded through Carlos’s hair soothingly, giving him a kiss and a bit of a nuzzle. “That sounds rough,” he said apologetically.

“It’s all fine now. Ana is surprised but happy for us. Dad gives us his blessing and doesn’t want details, which what I expected from him. Mama is… confused. And disappointed. But mostly excited. And happy for us, too,” Carlos assured, returning the kiss and the nuzzle. 

“Well, that’s good. The excited and the blessing and the happy for us parts. Not the other parts,” Cecil replied, still frowning a bit.

Carlos shook his head a little and attempted to kiss off Cecil’s frown. “The other parts will work themselves out,” he murmured, “Mama is just traditional, you know. Babies are supposed to happen after marriage. So is moving in together and having sex, for that matter, in her view. Maria is the only sibling who got it all in the ‘right’ order, according to her, and that’s only because she’s the only one in the family who doesn’t know that Maria wasn’t a virgin when she married Ross.” He chuckled a little and gave Cecil one more kiss. “She loves her children, though, and forgives us of our ‘indiscretions’, and all that really matters to her is that we’re happy. And I told her that you, and, as overwhelming as it is, the idea of, well, starting a family with you, makes me very happy. So she’s okay with it.”

“Oh, Carlos…” Cecil managed, tearing up at the sentiment and burying his face against the scientist’s shoulder, letting tears dampen Carlos’s shirt. “Sorry,” he whispered after a moment, “I’m just… emotional, and you’re so wonderful and-and I love you so much...”

“It’s alright Cecil,” Carlos whispered in return, “I understand, and I love you, too. Very much.”

Cecil nodded, giving Carlos one last kiss before pulling away and laying his head down on his own pillow. “Thank you,” he said softly, with a yawn, as he reached out and tucked a stray curl behind Carlos’s ear, “and good night, Carlos.”

“Good night, Cecil,” Carlos echoed, turning his head to kiss Cecil’s palm before the broadcaster withdrew it to pull up the blankets more snugly.

The pair smiled at each other softly and shut their eyes, soon drifting off to sleep.


	21. Chapter 21

Carlos had to leave for the lab early the next morning, leaving Cecil with only a note wishing him a good day of shopping and bonding time, and telling him that he’d try to call his two remaining sisters during the day.

He did manage to talk to both Maria and Theresa for a bit - they had heard the news from Mama and were generally surprised but supportive of it all-, between minor explosions and other mishaps It was a very long day at the lab, and Carlos couldn’t wait to be home once his day ended.

The house was unusually dimly lit and quiet, but the door was unlocked, so Carlos assumed Cecil was home. “Cecil?” he called out, slipping out of his shoes and hanging his lab coat up by the door.

“Bedroom,” Cecil’s voice responded, in a tone somewhere between “seductive” and “nervous giggle.”

Carlos’s face twisted slightly in confusion, but he locked the door behind him and made his way to the bedroom. It was lit with what was probably an inadvisable number of candles, and with soft music filtering in, presumably from the radio on the night stand, even if Carlos didn’t know of any stations that played romantic music in the area, and the radio did not have any auxiliary input functions.

“Hi,” Cecil greeted, giggling a little as he posed on the bed, in a pair of boxer briefs depicting a shark attack and nothing else. 

“Hi,” Carlos echoed, a smile spreading across his face as he sat down on the edge of the bed. “What’s all this?”

Cecil smirked and shifted over to Carlos’s side, immediately unbuttoning his flannel and sliding it off Carlos’s shoulders. “Well… I just thought, I got to spend the whole day relaxing, and you were working hard at the lab for all of it, so maybe you deserved something a little special…”

“You don’t have to-,” Carlos assured, only to be interrupted by a kiss.

“I want to,” Cecil insisted, “Trust me, I really want to.” He punctuated his kiss by sliding his hands up under Carlos’s undershirt, pushing it up until he was allowed to pull it off before starting in on removing Carlos’s pants. “I found some massage oil while I was out shopping today and thought it might be nice to try,” he murmured, “so just lay down and let me take care of you.”

It was hard for Carlos to argue as he toed off his socks and Cecil helped him remove his jeans before pushing him back against the bed. He shifted the pillows and rolled over so he was face down while Cecil retrieved a bottle from the bedside table.

Pouring a bit of the oil onto Carlos’s back, Cecil leaned in to give Carlos one more quick kiss before beginning to run his hands over his boyfriend. “So how was your day?” he asked idly, concentrating on rubbing out a few knots in Carlos’s shoulders, “Did you get a chance to call your sisters?”

“Long,” Carlos replied, after a soft groan at the pressure on his back, “Lots of… explosions. Lots of data collected. Lots of uncollectable data.” He paused to moan as the massage oil began to warm under Cecil’s hands. “Called Maria and Theresa, they’re surprised but happy for us, too. I’ll call them and let you talk to them at some point. And Cecil, is this warming oil?”

“Yeah,” Cecil giggled, “do you like it?”

Carlos’s emphatic “Yes,” got caught up in another moan as Cecil blew across Carlos’s back, heating the oil further. He sighed blissfully and let Cecil continue his ministrations for a few minutes before finally speaking again. “You’re good with your hands…”

Cecil smirked a little at that. “Am I?” he asked, leaning down to blow over Carlos’s back again, “I’ve always been told I’m especially good with my mouth…” With that, he licked a stripe up Carlos’s spine, humming happily against his boyfriend’s skin. “I forgot to tell you the massage oil is edible. Chocolate raspberry flavored…”

“Fuck…” Carlos muttered under his breath, suppressing another moan. He could feel Cecil’s smirk against his skin as the action was repeated a few more times, interspersed with kisses and some light sucking before it was only Cecil’s hands on him again. The scientist felt practically boneless by the time he finally turned a bit to look back at his boyfriend, smirking a bit himself. “You know… you deserve a massage, too,” he suggested, “Maybe you had a relaxing day today, but you’re carrying a baby. That’s a lot of effort... And maybe I could lick a little massage oil off your back. See how it tastes. Scientific observation and all that, you know…”

“Oh…” Cecil said, considering the idea for a moment before continuing, “Well, who I am to stand in the way of scientific observation? And, I don’t think I’d exactly mind a backrub either…”

Carlos grinned as he slowly sat up, giving Cecil a kiss on the lips as he did. “Can you, uh, lay on your stomach very well anymore?” he asked tentatively, gesturing to Cecil’s ever growing bump.

“Not really,” Cecil replied with slightly embarrassed shake of his head.

“It’s okay,” Carlos assured, “I can do it just fine with you on your side instead.” He gave Cecil   
another little kiss before guiding him into a comfortable position and grabbing the massage oil. He drizzled some into his own hand before rubbing it Cecil’s back lightly.

“That’s nice,” the broadcaster hummed quietly, shutting his eyes as his boyfriend’s hands ran over him.

It became apparent fairly quickly that laying on one’s side wasn’t the optimal position for a massage, but neither man was going to complain about the opportunity for closeness and sensual touching, especially not once Carlos’s mouth got involved, tracing trails along Cecil’s back with his tongue.

“This tastes good,” Carlos murmured against Cecil’s skin, “or maybe that’s just you.”

Cecil laughed at that. “Flatterer,” he teased, focusing on enjoying the touch for a few more moments before speaking again. “Carlos… there’s one more thing I didn’t tell you about that massage oil…”

“Which is?” Carlos asked, stopping mid-lick.

“It can also be used as lube…”

A pleasantly surprised “Oh,” made it’s way through Carlos’s lips, gliding over Cecil’s back and causing the oil to warm again. He pulled back a little to get a better look at Cecil’s face, “Is that a… hint that you’d like it used as lube?” he asked.

“Well…” Cecil said, smirking and blushing at the same time, “Only if you wanted to, of course, but well… It’s been… since May since I’ve… and what we do is great, don’t get me wrong. I really like your mouth and your hands and those sounds you make when I’ve got you in my mouth. But I also like having something inside me. And now that we know that everything is really okay and we’re not going to hurt anything by having sex I would kind of like to… And we could do it with me inside you, if you wanted to, if you like that, but I just… I really want it bad, Carlos…”

Leaning in, Carlos nodded and gave Cecil one more soft kiss. “I want to,” he assured, “And if you ever want to be on top, I’d like that, but we’d need protection, considering…” he rubbed over Cecil’s abdomen before continuing, “But for tonight, I can definitely give you what you want.”

“Thank you,” Cecil murmured, taking Carlos’s hand atop his bump. “So, how do you want me? Position-wise, I mean.”

Carlos thought for a minute. “Just while I prep you, could you be on your hands and knees?”

Cecil nodded and turned over to push himself up onto his hands and knees, waiting as Carlos pulled his underwear down and off.

Once Cecil was nude, Carlos drizzled a little of the oil over the curve of Cecil’s ass, rubbing it in gently and giving the skin a few licks as he poured more over his fingers and began to rub over Cecil’s entrance.

“Mmm… that’s good,” Cecil hummed, already rocking back just slightly, trying to encourage Carlos to push a finger in.

The scientist only responded with a chuckle, rubbing the tip of his finger around the rim of Cecil’s ass until he finally allowed it to slip in.

Cecil whined needily at the teasing, but the sound quickly turned into a moan as Carlos slowly pushed his finger all the way in. “Carlos…”

“More?” Carlos asked, pulling the finger out before pushing it back in again slowly, the tip of his second finger beginning to tease a him.

“Please,” Cecil half begged, rocking back on to the single finger. In response, Carlos’s rhythm sped up just a little, but Cecil clearly wanted more.

“I can only go so fast, I don’t want it to hurt, and you’re so tight, Cecil,” Carlos murmured, kissing Cecil’s thigh, “Relax for me.”

Cecil half nodded, taking a deep breath. “You won’t hurt me, it’ll be so good, Carlos please…”

“Just relax for me,” Carlos repeated, pressing more kisses to Cecil’s skin and being rewarded with a loud moan as he slipped his second finger in. He didn’t rush to start spreading them yet, just working the fingers in and out slowly, pausing to feel inside Cecil for a spot that made the host gasp lightly. “Too much?” he asked continuing to press on and very slightly rub over it.

“No,” Cecil shook his head, “just… feels so good… I want more… Please Carlos, please…”

Carlos nodded, continuing for a moment before slipping his fingers out to pour more of the oil over them, and pushing them back in, beginning to scissor them and ready Cecil for a third. “I love how responsive you are,” he whispered, kissing along Cecil’s spine, “But you have to tell me if something is too much, okay?”

“Yes…” Cecil assured, rocking back onto his boyfriend’s fingers, even more eager than before, now that a third finger had began rubbing at his rim.

It wasn’t long after that when Carlos felt Cecil was ready for that finger to slip inside with the other two, stretching the broadcaster even further and causing him to beg for Carlos to give him even more. Eventually, Carlos agreed to oblige, pressing a few more kisses to the curve of Cecil’s ass before sliding his fingers out.

Cecil whimpered at the empty feeling and turned back to look at Carlos, only to be met with a kiss and a hand on his shoulder.

“I think I would like to, uh,” Carlos blushed lightly as he spoke, “observe your reactions, during. And also kiss you. Not to mention that it won’t be very long before you shouldn’t be on your back for an extended period of time and well, I think we should take advantage while we’re still able to...”

Giggling, Cecil nodded, kissing Carlos softly before laying down and rolling over onto his back, while Carlos removed his boxers and grabbed the oil again.

Carlos thoroughly slicked his cock and settled between Cecil’s spread legs, taking a moment to run his hands down Cecil’s sides and thumb over his rounded middle before gripping himself and lining up. “Are you ready?” he asked softly.

“Yes, Carlos, please,” Cecil whined in return, squirming a bit under Carlos’s touch, but forcing himself to relax as he felt Carlos push in. “You feel so good… keep going, oh perfect Carlos…” As his boyfriend bottomed out within him, he wrapped his legs around Carlos’s hips to keep him in place, already rocking slightly to encourage Carlos to move.

“You… fuck… feel amazing,” Carlos managed, letting Cecil as well as himself adjust to the penetration. “You look amazing. You are amazing,” he continued, rubbing along Cecil’s side and down the outside of his thigh and back before gripping his length gently until he noticed Cecil shaking his head.

“Not gonna last if you do that,” Cecil protested, “I wanna last for you…”

“You don’t have to -”

“I want to…”

Carlos moved his hand back to Cecil’s hip and leaned down to kiss him softly. “I don’t know how long I’m going to last either. You feel so good.”

“I want you to come first this time…”

Nodding, Carlos gave Cecil one more kiss before beginning to rock into him. He tried to keep it slow at first, but Cecil’s moans and pleasurable whines encouraged him to speed up quickly. As much as he tried to keep steady and not finish embarrassingly quickly, every one of his thrusts was met with a rock or a twist or a push, and he knew that even if he wanted to hold back, Cecil wasn’t about to let him. It was when Cecil reached up and gripped his hair that Carlos finally tumbled over the edge with one last hard push and a strangled sort of whine as he came within Cecil.

Cecil whined when he felt Carlos come, and continued riding him through it, as Carlos shifted, pulling back but not out and wrapping his hand around Cecil’s cock.

The scientist angled himself just so, gripping himself as well, but keeping the tip of his cock inside Cecil and rubbing it over his prostate. It barely took a half dozen strokes for Cecil to reach completion with a yelp, spilling over his stomach.

After a few more strokes, Carlos let go and pulled out completely, grabbing a tissue to clean Cecil up and laying down next to him to give him kisses. “You’re beautiful when you come, you know…” he murmured softly.

“So are you…” Cecil replied breathily, doing his best to catch his breath and return the kisses.

Carlos chuckled at that. “Your eyes were closed when I finished.”

Cecil laughed in turn, pulling Carlos into another kiss. “But you’re beautiful all the time anyway.”

“I love you,” Carlos said softly, blushing at the compliment.

“I love you, too,” Cecil echoed, relaxing into the pillows and shutting his eyes. “I’m tired. Goodnight, Carlos, goodnight.”

Carlos gave Cecil one last kiss before pulling the blanket up from the end of the bed and over them, and snuggling up to his boyfriend. “Sweet dreams, Cecil.”


	22. Chapter 22

Cecil woke to Carlos’s voice speaking softly in his ear the next morning. “Cecil… Wake up. That massage oil was a great idea but it kind of left a sticky mess. Do you want join me in the shower?”

“Nnno…” the broadcaster whined, pushing his face into the pillows.

“Alright…” Carlos sighed, “I’ll just have be all alone and lonely in a nice hot shower before I go to work, and I’ll leave you to do the laundry…”

“Uuuugh,” Cecil groaned, opening his eyes and sitting upright, “Fine, I’m up.”

Carlos laughed. “I thought that might get you out of bed,” he said, pecking Cecil on the lips before helping him up. “You go get the shower started and I’ll toss the sheets in the wash?”

“Okay.” Cecil returned the kiss and stretched, hissing a bit at some pain, but it was nothing new or unexpected, before proceeding to the bathroom.

A few moments later, the shower was running hot and Carlos stepped inside the small bathroom and into the shower stall to join Cecil, stealing the soap from him and opting to lather him up himself with soft touches. “Last night was really nice…”

“Mmhmmm…” Cecil hummed, leaning back against Carlos and letting himself be lathered.

“It was good for you too, huh? Not too sore this morning or anything?”

Cecil shook his head with another pleasant hum as Carlos turned him around and lathered his back before pressing the soap into his hands for him to do the same. “Not at all. It was so good. I still have my stomach butterfly, though, but that’ll go away on its own.”

“Stomach butterfly?” Carlos asked, confused as Cecil lovingly ran the soap over every bit of skin on his upper half.

“Yeah, I was a little nervous, I guess, after I picked up the massage oil, and I got a stomach butterfly. Usually they’re more active, though, and go away after whatever is making you nervous finishes up,” Cecil explained.

Carlos’s expression was still confused once Cecil put the soap down and reached for his shampoo, lathering his hands before starting in on Carlos’s mop of curls. “I’ve heard of having ‘butterflies in your stomach’ before but I didn’t know they were literal in Night Vale…”

“It’s usually children that get them. Maybe I’m susceptible because I’m pregnant?” the host pondered, frowning to himself, ”I just don’t know why it hasn’t gone away yet. I don’t feel nervous about anything...”

It took a moment of thinking before it dawned on Carlos, just as Cecil was ushering him under the spray to rinse out the shampoo. “Cecil, where are you feeling the ‘butterfly’?”

“Here,” Cecil replied, gesturing to the swell of his abdomen with another frown, “It’s not quite where I remember them being either...”

“Cecil,” Carlos said, a grin spreading across his face, “I don’t think that’s a butterfly.”

“Then what is it?”

“I think you’re feeling the baby kick.”

Cecil’s eyes went wide with excitement. “That little flutter… that’s the baby?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Tears welled up in the broadcaster’s eyes as he pulled Carlos close. “I can feel my baby. Our baby…” He pulled back and put Carlos’s hand on his belly, “Come on little one, kick again.”

“I might not be able to feel yet, if you just started feeling her. But the kicks will get stronger and I will soon, I bet,” Carlos assured, rubbing over Cecil’s stomach anyway.

“Neat…” Cecil whispered, happy tears gently rolling down his face. 

Carlos couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Neat is a pretty good word for it.”

Cecil blushed, playfully pushing Carlos’s shoulder. “Shh. Be nice to me, I’m carrying a baby.”

The scientist laughed again, pulling Cecil into a soft kiss. “I’ll be very nice to you. Especially if you put my conditioner in while I rub your belly and see if I can get that baby to kick again.”

“That’s a very good offer,” Cecil teased, already reaching for the conditioner, “What else is in it for me?”

“Well…” Carlos smirked, “I’ll make you breakfast once we’re out of the shower, before I have to go in to the lab for the day. And tonight when I get groceries I’ll pick up a special treat for when I make you dinner tomorrow night…”

Cecil faux-pondered for a moment before kissing Carlos again and depositing a coin sized amount of condition into his hand. “Deal,” he said as he began to work it into Carlos’s curls.

Carlos grinned and held up his end of the bargain, rubbing carefully and reverently over Cecil’s midsection as his own scalp was massaged. He took a turn shampooing Cecil’s hair once his was coated in conditioner, and once Cecil had rinsed off, gave him a few slow kisses before rinsing out his own hair and stepping out of the shower. “You go get dressed, I’ll check the laundry, then get started on breakfast.”

“Okay,” Cecil replied, giving Carlos one more kiss before pulling away to go get dressed for the day.

A few moments later, Carlos was still in his towel, cracking eggs into a hot pan, when he felt familiar arms wrap around him. 

“I can watch the eggs, if you wanted to get dressed,” Cecil said softly, giving Carlos a kiss on his cheek from behind.

“I think I’ll hold off until just before I leave,” Carlos replied.

Cecil whined and rested his head on Carlos’s shoulder. “Then why did I get dressed?”

Carlos chuckled and turned around in Cecil’s arms, wrapping his own around the other man and pulling him close. “Because, if neither of us got dressed we’d never get around to eating breakfast.”

“I can’t argue with you on that one,” Cecil sighed playfully, pulling away to set the table for breakfast.

When the eggs were done, Carlos plated them up and put a few slices of wheat-free bread in the toaster, putting them on his and Cecil’s plates once they’d popped up, before sitting down to eat.

Cecil had a few bites of his eggs before looking across the table at his boyfriend. “I think I’m going to announce the pregnancy today,” he said softly.

“Oh?” Carlos mumbled around a mouthful.

“Yeah, I think I’m ready to. And I don’t know if I can hold off for much longer. None of Abby’s old maternity shirts are of the sort that hides that they’re maternity shirts, you know,” Cecil replied.

“Well, good luck,” Carlos said with a smile, “I’ll be listening. And I’ll pick you up after work, with pizza. We can just cuddle up on the couch after and eat and watch a movie, okay?”

Cecil returned the smile just a little nervously, but largely genuinely. “Okay.”

The two continued with their breakfast after that, talking about their other plans for their respective days and washing the dishes up together before Carlos had to get dressed and head to the lab, leaving Cecil with another “Good luck” and exchanged “I love you.”s.


	23. Chapter 23

“Listeners,” Cecil said, his voice smooth and even, not betraying how the rest of him shook with nerves, “As you know, I am a radio professional. I’m aware that you don’t tune in to hear about my personal life. Also, Station Management has made it clear that I’m not to spend an entire program talking about my dates with Carlos anymore. But, I do have something about my private life to share with you that that may qualify as news.”

He took a breath and a sip of water - he’d managed to cut down to just three cups of coffee a day - and wished that Carlos was in the booth with him. He took comfort in knowing that his boyfriend was listening, as he’d been assured when he texted him during the weather, and continued. “If you’ve seen me around town, you may have notice my fashion sense trending towards looser clothing. It also appears that I’ve put on a little weight, or as some may put it ‘let myself go’ although a person’s weight is not indicative of the amount of effort they put into themselves or their self-worth, Steve Carlsberg. Well, there’s a certain reason for that…”

Cecil paused, taking another deep breath. There was no going back now. “Some months ago, our station cat, Khoshekh, had a litter of kittens, despite being a he-cat. This being one of the many things in life we should not question, it never occurred to me that other beings that you wouldn’t think would bear tiny, defenseless members of their species would be able do so. I, previously, counted myself as a being who couldn’t carry a child. However, like Khoshekh did, I’ve surprised myself.... Don’t we all surprise ourselves sometimes, listeners? And isn’t it good to push the boundaries of what we think is possible for ourselves? To live in a world so limited by ‘possibility’ isn’t really living at all now is it?” 

A gentle buzzing in his pocket made Cecil realize he was getting off topic. After another sip of water, he decided to just go for it. “My surprise isn’t exactly the sort of surprise you should hope to achieve. Or maybe it is. Well, either way, I’m pregnant. With a baby. A human baby, not kittens or anything absurd like that.”

Another gentle buzz from his pocket reassured him, and he felt a light flutter in his abdomen as he continued. “I’m currently 19 weeks along with a healthy baby girl... Those of you who do not follow municipal recommendations and choose to dangerously attempt mathematics at home will note that this places conception before my dear, perfect Carlos ever returned my affections. Although Carlos is not, biologically speaking, the other father of this baby, he has chosen to stay with me regardless, and has been an unerring source of support for me. Even when he gets caught up in science and doesn’t make it home for dinner sometimes. I don’t know what I would do without him, and I consider him to be as much the daddy as the person I created her with.”

Cecil took a moment to rub over his stomach, looking down at it with a fond smile. “With that announcement out of the way, I leave you with an update from a story I brought you earlier in the program: A representative from the Ralph’s has assured us that all scorpions have been removed from the produce section. They are now properly returned to the meat and dairy aisles, where they had previously been displayed. They apologize for any confusion and will be sure to properly update signage prior to moving goods the next time they rearrange. Up next is a soft howling wind whistling through trees, and a noise you hope is just branches scratching against each other. Good night, Listeners. Good night.”

As soon as the on air light went off, Cecil hurried out of the station, avoiding eye contact with any of his coworkers in favor of climbing into Carlos’s waiting car as soon as he saw it in the parking lot.

Carlos gave Cecil a gentle, proud sort of smile as the host climbed into the car. “Hi Cecil-”

“I think I’m going to throw up.”

The scientist’s smile dropped as he put his arm around his boyfriend, rubbing his back immediately, “Cecil, you did great.”

“I’m pregnant. And now everyone knows I’m pregnant,” Cecil said, taking uneven breaths and shaking a little as Carlos pulled him closer.

“I know.”

“I shouldn’t have told them. I shouldn’t have told anyone.”

“Why not?”

“Because everyone knows now!”

“Why is that a bad thing? Cecil, you couldn’t hide it forever…”

Cecil started crying then, taking no comfort in how Carlos shifted so that his head rested on the scientist’s chest. “What if I have to give her up? I can’t take care of a baby… I couldn’t take care of a hamster...”

Carlos was quiet for a moment, just gently rocking Cecil in his arms before he spoke. “Cecil, you won’t have to give her up. You’ll be able to take care of her, and you have friends and loved ones who will help you along the way, including me.”

“I don’t know what to do!” Cecil sobbed harder.

“We’ll find out. I can teach you what I know, and I’ll be there to help,” Carlos assured, “We can read about it, on the internet, or I can go to the library and get us some books.”

“I don’t want you going to the library,” the broadcaster whispered, with dread in his voice.

“Then we’ll send Steve to the library.” Carlos hoped that would get a little smile out of Cecil, as he pulled back enough to get a look at his face.

It didn’t quite earn a smile, but Cecil’s tears did ease a bit, the host pulling back and sitting properly in his seat. “Okay. Can we go home now?”

Carlos smiled a little at that, keeping one hand on Cecil’s knee as he started the car. “Yeah. Let’s go home.”


	24. Chapter 24

“...And then Susan said the ball landed ON the line, but it landed outside of the line! I saw. But then it was time to go inside so we called it a draw, but my team really won,” babbled a girl’s voice coming from somewhere in the kitchen as Carlos walked inside his home on a quiet Tuesday afternoon.

“Susan shouldn’t lie like that,” Cecil said in reply to his niece before noticing his boyfriend in the doorway. “Oh, Carlos!” he grinned, standing up and tugging him into the kitchen before making him sit down at the full table, “this is my niece, Janice-”

“Hi!”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Janice. Your uncle and your step-dad have told me a lot about you,” Carlos greeted, reaching his hand out to shake the girl’s.

“And this is my sister, Abby.”

“Cecil and Steve have both told me a lot about you, too.”

“Oh, same. It’s nice to finally meet you,” Abby replied with a little wave from across the table.

“And you already know Steve,” Cecil finished, with just a touch of bitterness.

“Hey Carlos. I was just going to drop off some library books for Cecil, but then Janice wanted to stop by to see her uncle, and Abby had a big crock pot full of chilli going for tonight and she came home just before we left, so we sort of invited ourselves to dinner,” Steve said happily, gesturing to the appliance on the countertop.

“Oh, how nice of all of you,” Carlos said, giving Cecil a gentle nudge when he grumbled under his breath.

“Yeah, thanks for coming over,” Cecil mumbled.

Carlos realized he needed to get the conversation going again quickly before Steve and Cecil actually spoke to each other. “Janice, how do you like school? What grade are you in?” he asked, smiling at the girl.

“I’m in 1st grade. It’s okay, but I like Girls Scouts better,” Janice replied.

“What do you like about Girl Scouts?”

“Nature hikes! I want to get my Surviving in Nature badge but Mom won’t let me...”

“Not until you’re 11, honey, we talked about this,” Abby sighed.

“You’re not letting her get that until she’s 11? I had the Boy Scout equivalent by the time I was 9!”

“But you were drafted into the Scouts when you were 7, and you weren’t Mom’s only child.”

“Well, yeah, but -”

Carlos interrupted to speak to Janice again, wanting to avoid familial arguments the first time he met Cecil’s family. “Well, Girl Scouts sounds fun anyway, Janice. You know, if you ever have any science related badges you need help earning, let me know. I’d be glad to help out.”

“Really?” Janice asked excitedly, “That’d be cool! None of the other girls have a real scientist for an uncle to help them.“

“I’m not technically your uncle, I don’t think,” Carlos chuckled, “Cecil and I would have to be married for that. But yes, really. I’d love to help with any science.”

Janice frowned just a little bit when Carlos said he wasn’t her uncle. “But you love Uncle Cecil, right?” she asked.

“Of course I do,” Carlos said, glancing over to Cecil with a half-forced-due-to-surprise-at-the-question smile.

“And you’re gonna be a daddy to Uncle Cecil’s baby?”

“Well, yes I plan to be there for Cecil and the baby,” the scientist managed, a bit taken aback by a 10 year old grilling him about his intentions with her uncle.

“So why don’t you get married to him and then you’ll be my uncle?” Janice asked, as if that was the most obvious course of action the situation could possibly take. 

Cecil turned to Carlos, looking at him as expectantly for an answer as Janice was, and all the scientist could do was go wide eyed and stammer a bit until Abby interjected. “Janice, marriage is something that shouldn’t be rushed into. It signifies that people love each other so much they never want to be with anyone else. Sometimes it doesn’t work out like that, but that’s the idea of it. It’s hard to know if you want to be with someone forever if you’ve only known them for a few months… Now I think that pot of chilli is almost done, so why don’t you go wash your hands before we eat, okay, sweetie?”

Janice sighed heavily, but mumbled an “Okay, Mom,” under her breath and wheeled off towards the bathroom as Abby got up to serve dinner with Cecil joining her.

“Kids, huh? The stuff they say...” Steve chuckled. “Gotta love ‘em. Well, you’ll know for yourself soon enough.” 

“Yeah,” Carlos said, leaning back in his chair a little. “It’s a little overwhelming to think about, but I will.”

Steve smiled and leaned in a little. “Kids aren’t hard. Well, they are, but they’re not that hard. You’ve just gotta love them and do your best to keep them safe. I hear it’s easier when they’re babies, too. All you’ve gotta worry about is feeding them and keeping an eye out for that one hooded figure and stuff like that. I married Abby when Janice was almost 6. Got thrown into the deep end on that one.”

“I can imagine,” Carlos said with a nod before changing the subject. “So you said you brought Cecil some books from the library? You really didn’t have to do that, Steve.”

“Well he asked, and he’s my brother-in-law. That’s the right term, right? Brother-in-law? Anyway, it wasn’t like I could refuse him. And I needed to go to the library anyway. Janice wanted to do a book report for extra credit, and I certainly wasn’t going to let her go alone,” Steve said. “I really don’t mind.”

“Well, thanks. I’m sure Cecil appreciates it, too.”

A moment later, Janice returned to the table, smiling at her step-father and Carlos as she rolled into the spot between them, and Abby and Cecil began setting bowls at everyone’s places.

“Looks good, honey,” Steve said, picking up the spoon Cecil had set next to his bowl.

“Of course it does, my sister made it,” Cecil grumbled as he took his spot on the opposite side of Carlos.

“My mom makes the best chilli!” Janice beamed.

“Really? I’m excited to try it then,” Carlos replied, setting pleasant conversation rolling.

Dinner was dominated mostly by Janice talking about school, with occasional questions and anecdotes from Carlos about science and a few about growing up with a large family. The others commented occasionally and Cecil and Steve didn’t say a word directed at each other, keeping the mood light. Once everyone had finished and had all the seconds they wanted, Abby stood up and stretched. “Well, I think that after the dishes get washed up, it’s about time to be getting home.”

“Mom, can I sleep over tonight?” Janice asked, putting on her most hopeful face. 

“You’ve got school in the morning, sweetie, and you didn’t even bring any clothes.”

“I can sleep in a big t-shirt! And come home before school to get dressed! Pleeeeeease?”

Cecil was about say something when he caught a glare from Abby and rethought quickly. “Your mom is right,” he ended up saying, “I don’t think you should sleep over tonight. But maybe this weekend we can have a cool sleepover? And tonight, you and I can hang out and watch a movie while the rest of the grown ups clean up? I think Cat Ballou is on tonight and it should be just starting.” He glanced to Abby to make sure that was okay and earned a little nod, sighing with relief.

“Okay…” Janice said with a tiny pout as she wheeled herself away from the table and into the living room, Cecil following after her.

“Steve, honey,” Steve said as she gathered up empty bowls, “can you put the leftovers in containers? Carlos and I will take care of the dishes.”

“Of course, honey,” Steve replied, busying himself with finding some tupperware.

Carlos gathered up the flatware and followed over to the sink, dropping them in and turning the water to hot. “I wash, you dry?” he suggested to Abby.

“Sounds good to me,” she said, grabbing a dish towel as Carlos added some soap to the water and started cleaning. “She likes you,” she said after a moment.

“Janice? I like her too. She’s very smart.”

“Oh yeah, she’s really bright. Straight As, catches on quickly in class. Really sweet, too. It’s a wonder she’s mine,” Abby joked, getting a little smile out of Carlos. “Sorry about her pushing the you marrying Cecil thing, earlier. She’s 10, you know. Things are still a little black and white for her. Cecil still sees things that way too, sometimes.”

“I know,” Carlos assured, “but, with time and patience, Cecil can also often see reason and all the grey in between. I’m sure Janice will get there too.” He dried a few dishes, putting them in the rack before speaking again. “When my sister talked to Cecil, she gave him the whole warning about breaking her little brother’s heart, so I’m going to assure you that I won’t break your little brother’s heart either. We haven’t talked about marriage or anything that serious yet, but I have no intentions at this time of leaving Cecil, and I’d like to keep making him as happy as he makes me for as long as he still makes me happy.”

Abby nodded. “Thank you. That’s all I can ask for, I think.”

The two continued washing dishes, sending Steve in to sit with Janice and Cecil once he was done dealing with leftovers, and working in companionable quiet until the kitchen was spotless before joining everyone else in the living room.

By the time the movie was over, Janice was asleep in Cecil’s lap, and Cecil was asleep against Carlos’s shoulder. 

“Cecil,” Carlos said softly, “Cecil, wake up for a bit, it’s time for Janice and Steve and Abby to go home.”

Cecil made a few noises of protest before waking up and realizing what Carlos had said. “Oh,” he murmured before looking down and seeing Janice sound asleep, her head on his chest and her hand on his abdomen. “Hey Jani,” he murmured, rubbing the girl’s back a little, “it’s time to go home.” 

“Don’t wanna go home. Wanna feel the baby kick,” Janice replied sleepily, snuggling closer to her uncle.

“I don’t think the baby’s gonna kick hard enough for you to feel it tonight, sweetie. But you can come over some other time, and they’ll be a little bigger and stronger then. You’ll get to feel her kick then, and we can watch some movies or maybe do some fun science with Uncle Carlos. How’s that sound?”

Janice sighed heavily. “O-kay…”

Cecil laughed as Abby pulled Janice’s chair around and helped her off Cecil’s lap and into it. 

“Thanks for coming over,” Carlos said as he stood to get the door, “it was nice meeting you two.”

“It was nice meeting you, too,” Abby replied.

“Bye Uncle Carlos,” Janice said with a wave, adding a louder, “Bye Uncle Cecil!” before she was wheeled out the door.

“Bye Janice,” Carlos called after her, pausing for Cecil to call the same after her as well, before turning to Steve, “And bye, Steve. Thanks for bringing those books over.”

“Oh, it was no trouble. Anytime. See you around, Carlos,” Steve replied, following after his wife and daughter.

Carlos shut the door behind them before returning to the couch and cuddling back up to Cecil. “I like your family,” he said as he wrapped his arm around Cecil.

“They like you, too,” Cecil replied sleepily, “Janice already adores you. She has pretty good taste sometimes.”

Chuckling, Carlos gave Cecil a soft kiss. “I suppose so. I’m looking forward to spending more time with her.”

“She can’t wait to do some science with you sometime, and she’s so excited about having a little cousin. She really wants us to get married, too,” Cecil murmured.

An awkward chuckle escaped Carlos’s throat. “She has some interesting ideas, doesn’t she?”

Cecil couldn’t help but frown a little at that reaction. “Right,” he sighed, “well, I think I’m going to go to bed.”

“I’ll join you,” Carlos said, attempting to kiss the frown away but not wanting to address its cause right then.

“Okay, I love you,” Cecil replied, standing and leading Carlos to get ready for bed.


	25. Chapter 25

The next morning, Carlos found himself in the kitchen, cleaning up after breakfast, when Cecil came in with the day’s mail.

“Electric bill, PTA newsletter, and a package for you from ‘Rosita Vazquez-Ramon,’” Cecil announced as he entered the room.

“She didn’t,” Carlos said to himself as he turned to look at Cecil, seeing the padded envelope with a small bulge in it in his hand, “She did. Of course she did. I told her not to.”

Cecil frowned just a little in confusion. “What is it?”

Carlos took the package from Cecil’s hand and opened it, sighing softly as he saw the ring box he predicted would be there, and a little note in his mother’s handwriting. “My abuelo's ring,” he sighed, taking out the note and reading it to himself.

“Why would she send you that, if you didn’t want it?” the broadcaster asked.

“Mama wants us to get married,” Carlos sighed, “So she sent me the ring so I could propose to you.”

“And are you going to?” Cecil asked, his voice just a touch hopeful.

Carlos coughed awkwardly. “Someday, maybe.”

“Oh,” Cecil frowned slightly, busying himself with pinning the bill to the corkboard in the hall so he’d remember to pay it.

Taking note of the following silence, Carlos stood, slipping the ring box into his pocket, and walked over to Cecil, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Do you want to talk…?”

“I should be getting to the station. Lots of stories to report on tonight,” Cecil said quickly, pulling away and hurrying off to grab his things and leave for work.

There wasn’t much Carlos could do if Cecil was fleeing, so he returned to the kitchen and hoped it would blow over or Cecil would bring up the topic when he was ready.

By the time the weekend rolled around, it was clear even to Carlos that neither of those things were going to happen. For three days now, Cecil had mostly avoided Carlos, citing work or feeling uncomfortable or wanting to spend time with other friends or family to get out of the house or whatever room the scientist was in whenever he could. 

It wasn’t until Carlos walked in on Cecil watching an episode of A Wedding Story and sobbing that he admitted that he’d need to bring up the issue.

“Oh, hi Carlos, I was just thinking of going over to my sister’s. Maybe take Janice to the park or something you know,” Cecil said quickly, getting up and wiping at his eyes as if that would hide the redness and dampness of his face.

“Cecil,” Carlos said softly, reaching out to put a hand on Cecil’s arm, “I’d like us to talk. Please?”

Cecil searched for a good reason to bolt, but when Carlos gently squeezed his forearm, he knew he was caught. He nodded without a word and sat back down on the couch, turning the tv off.

Carlos sat down with him, taking a hold of Cecil’s hand once they were sitting, and grabbing some tissues with the other, handing them to his boyfriend. “You’re still crying a little,” he said when Cecil gave him a worried look.

“Oh, sorry,” Cecil said with a forced chuckle, “I’m just… emotional, you know.” He rubbed over his belly, the baby inside currently still, but seemingly kicking harder every time she decided to move.

“I understand,” the scientist assured, smiling at Cecil softly, “I was just wondering… Cecil, are you upset I’m not proposing to you right away?”

Another forced laugh barked its way out of Cecil’s throat. “Nooo, of course not. Why would I be upset?”

“I was hoping you could help me understand that,” Carlos replied, squeezing Cecil’s hand again and taking a tissue to wipe away one last stray tear on the broadcaster’s face. “You’ve been avoiding me since Wednesday. I just want to know what you’re feeling…”

“Nothing,” Cecil insisted, “It’s dumb and I should be over it.”

“But you’re not. So let’s talk,” Carlos sighed softly, leaning back against the couch, still holding Cecil’s hand tightly.

Cecil bit his lip before leaning back with Carlos, resting his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder, partly so he wouldn’t have to look at him as he talked. “Well, it’s just… I love you… You know that right?”

“Right.”

“And I mean, you say it all the time so I’m pretty sure you love me…”

“I do,”

“And I’m pregnant. And I’m pretty sure the baby likes you. And you seem to like the baby well enough…”

“Yeah, I suppose I do.” Carlos took the opportunity to smile a little and rub his free hand over Cecil’s bump.

“Well, it’s sort of like we’re a little family, or going to be soon… and I don’t know why you don’t think it would be nice to make it official…”

Carlos thought for a moment before speaking, squeezing Cecil’s hand as he did. “It would be nice to make it official. Someday. But we’re already moved in together, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to rush things…”

“Why not?” Cecil asked, biting at his lip, “Like you said, we’re already moved in together. And my delicate condition would be grounds to postpone the more strenuous parts of the wedding ritual until after the little one is born at least...”

“Cecil…” Carlos took a deep breath and rubbed Cecil’s back a bit as he spoke, “I don’t know what the future will bring. None of us do, really. And I have no plans to leave. I want to stay with you and stay in love and raise our baby together. But… raising children is hard. Relationships are hard. Night Vale is a strange place. I can’t promise that we’ll be strong enough to manage it all. If things start to fall apart, I don’t want you tied down to me when you don’t want to be anymore. I don’t want myself tied down with some legal and likely spiritual entanglement as well as the emotional one associated with the relationship until I know we’re both really ready. And I know that I won’t be ready until after the baby is here and we’ve learned to balance being parents with being scientists and radio hosts and a couple all at the same time.”

A soft “Oh,” was all Cecil could manage as he processed Carlos’s words. Rationally, they made sense. Relationships sometimes didn’t work out, particularly under stresses, and marriage was a big undertaking not to be entered into lightly. Waiting until they had proven to themselves and each other that they were committed to being partners and a family was a good idea. But all Cecil could hear out of it was that Carlos wasn’t sure if they were going to stick together as a family, that he wanted an easier out than he could get if they were married, that someday they might break up. It made his stomach roll and his heart want to stop, but he forced a smile even as he paled slightly. “I understand,” he lied eventually, taking a deep breath, “I still think I’m going to go see Janice. It’s a nice day and I think it would be nice to go to the park and have some uncle-niece time.”

“Alright, Cecil,” Carlos replied, letting go of Cecil’s hand after another squeeze, thinking the worst was over, the issue settled, and feeling relieved. 

“I’ll probably have dinner with my sister. See you when I get home,” Cecil murmured, standing giving Carlos a little wave goodbye before heading out.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! As of a few days ago, I've had this up for a year, and I'm still not done. Thank you so much to everyone who is still reading!  
> Unfortunately, a week ago I was in a car accident, and typing with my injuries is difficult, so it might be about 6 weeks before I can do much work on it again.

Carlos actually didn’t see Cecil that night, receiving only a text reading “Jani really wanted me to sleep over. Couldn’t say no, could I? xo” in explanation sometime after dinner. He didn’t think anything of it, though, simply replying with “Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow then. Have fun! [Emoji of an anatomically correct heart beating the morse code for ‘I luv u’]” before heading to bed.

Cecil, however did think many things of all that Carlos had said. He mostly blocked it out while he was with Janice, focusing on helping her with school work and playing games and the like, but eventually she had to go to sleep. 

After getting his niece to relent on sleeping in the back yard in a pop-up tent (“Uncle Cecil’s back can’t take sleeping on the ground right now, Jani, and you can’t sleep by yourself out here” “Ugh, fiiiine.”), and tucking her in for the night, Cecil joined his sister on the sofa, glaring at Steve, sitting on the opposite side of her, until Abby sighed and asked Steve to get her a glass of water and take a while about it.

“The guest bedroom is all set up whenever you’re ready to go to sleep. Janice really had fun today,” Abby said with a soft smile.

“Oh, I did, too,” Cecil assured, “And… I needed to get out of the house anyway…” He swallowed hard at Abby’s small frown and look of concern before continuing. “I think Carlos might be planning to break up with me…”

“What!?”

Cecil leaned back, looking up at the ceiling light and trying not to cry. “He… his mother sent him a family ring to propose to me with, but he doesn’t want to propose yet. We talked about it, and he said a bunch of stuff about how we might not make it and that families and relationships were hard, and he didn’t want either of us to be tied down with a marriage if it didn’t work out.“

Abby put her hand on Cecil’s arm and thought for a moment. “I don’t think he’s planning to break up with you. He’s just… realistic, and afraid that it won’t work out. Sometimes relationships don’t...”

“That’s not what I want to hear, Abby!” Cecil snapped with a little sniffle. 

“I know, I know. But I don’t think he’s planning to break up with you. He told me he wasn’t,” Abby assured softly.

Cecil bit his lip and looked down at his lip. “Then why won’t he marry me?”

“Because you’ve been dating for all of, what, two months and it’s a little ridiculous to be talking about marriage so soon? It’s a little ridiculous that you’ve moved in together, really, but he seems like a decent guy, and you’ve always done what you wanted to do, within the confines of your destiny, Cecil,” the broadcaster’s sister sighed.

“Well, when you put it like that…” Cecil grumbled.

Abby rolled her eyes a bit and patted her brother on the shoulder. “Look, if you’re unhappy with the level of commitment he’s giving you, tell him. But just know that he is really going above and beyond what people would expect already.”

“I’m just worried… what if he leaves when I need him most?”

“If it gets to a point where he really wants to leave, he’s going to go whether there is a ring on your hand or not. And, if he does… You have a family, who loves you. And the baby. And will be right there whenever you need them.”

“But the baby won’t have a daddy around, other than me…”

“There are lots of single parents in Night Vale, Cecil,” Abby assured. “And maybe not right away, but who knows, someday you could have a 4 year old who likes to drop things out of your grocery cart, and a sweet guy could come along and pick up the dropped groceries for you and you could thank him by letting him buy you two a slice at Big Rico’s and end up falling in love.”

Cecil sighed a little before frowning. “Is that how you met Steve?”

“Yes. I’ve told you that story a dozen times, Cecil.”

“Oh, well, usually, you preface it with mentioning Steve, and I just stop listening.”

Abby rolled her eyes again and squeezed her brother’s shoulder. “Just know that even if the worst happens, you’ll pull through it.”

“Alright,” Cecil said a little skeptically, taking a deep breath. “I think I’m going to go to bed. It’s been a long day, and I think I need to think about some things…”

“Don’t think too hard, Cecil,” his sister said softly, “I’ll wake you up for breakfast.”

Cecil chuckled softly as he stood, stretching carefully and putting his and on his stomach. Others couldn’t feel the baby kick yet, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying on anyone’s part. “You know I won’t, sis. Goodnight,” he murmured, heading into the guest bedroom for the night.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all. This is the last chapter I had finished before my accident, and seeing as there is an end in sight for my being unable to type much (cast comes off the 30th, and I'll be able to use the other hand more fully by the end of next week), I thought I'd post it. I should be able to start writing again and have at least the next chapter up by Valentine's.

Carlos slept late that morning, taking advantage of being able to sprawl out in the empty bed, and waking only when the bed was suddenly less empty. He blinked his eyes open to check that the weight suddenly next to him was, in fact, Cecil as he suspected, before shutting them again and wrapping an arm around his boyfriend. 

“Hi,” Cecil greeted, kissing Carlos softly as he cuddled up to him.

“Hi,” the scientist replied, returning the kiss and licking his lips after. “You taste like syrup.”

“Janice and I made pancakes for breakfast this morning.”

Carlos chuckled, “Oh, that’d explain it. Did you have a nice time?”

Cecil nodded, burying his face in Carlos’s neck before replying, “Yeah it was fun.” He went quiet then, taking a few deep breaths before pulling back. “Carlos… I know it isn’t fair to ask this of you… but I need some kind of larger commitment from you if we’re going to continue this relationship…”

That broke Carlos out of his pleasant, sleepy haze. “What?”

“We don’t have to get married,” Cecil clarified quickly, “Or even engaged, I guess. I just… it’s stupid, but I need more…”

Carlos sat up slowly, taking Cecil’s hand in his own as he watched the radio host sit up as well and start chewing on his lip nervously. “Talk to me, Cecil. We just had a talk about why we’re not getting married yesterday, and I thought we were okay?”

“Well, we’re not. I mean, we are. You’ve been… perfect so far. More than perfect. I love you, and I never want to leave. And I don’t have any reason to think that you’d leave, but I don’t feel like there’s anything stopping you from leaving, either.” Cecil admitted, his voice soft and his eyes shining slightly. “And that scares me,” he continued after a moment, “It scares me a lot… I know that a ring or a shared lease or a set of initials in your ribs wouldn’t make any difference if you really wanted to leave. But it feels like it would. And without… anything... I’d just… I don’t know what I’d do if you left, especially after the baby was born. The baby’s the most important thing now, it doesn’t so much matter what I want, it’s about her, and she deserves commitment, I think.”

“Cecil…” Carlos said softly, a little overwhelmed and wanting to comfort his boyfriend, “are you giving me an ultimatum?”

Cecil went silent for a moment after that, taking tiny, shallow breaths and refusing to let tears fall. “It sounds awful when you say it like that.”

“It… it isn’t good,” Carlos replied quietly. “But I… I can’t change how you feel, Cecil. If you really think it’s best for you and the baby for you to not continue our relationship… I can’t stop you. I don’t want to leave you, and I don’t want you to leave me, but I won’t be forced into something I’m not ready for, either.”

“Right. Right. I… I shouldn’t have…” Cecil burst into tears then, and began to pull away, continuing to do so even after Carlos reached out for him. “I… I’ll just go back to my sister’s… I’ll pack up my stuff Monday while you’re at the lab.”

Carlos kept his hand held out even after Cecil’s shoulder was no longer resting beneath his palm. “If… You’re the only one who can choose what’s right for you and if it really is ending the relationship I have to live with that but I don’t want you to go Cecil… I really, really, really don’t want you to go…”

“And I really don’t want to go either,” the host managed between sniffles, “but… but… but…” Cecil sat back down then, leaning into Carlos’s touch and crumpling up against him soon after. 

“You don’t have to go. No one is saying you have to go,” Carlos assured softly, wrapping his arms around Cecil and holding him close. “Even if you do think it’s for the best, you don’t have to pull it off like a bandaid…”

“I don’t?”

“It’s a big, big decision, and you can take time with it. I know I’d really like the chance to get you to change your mind… but in the end, if you still think it’s best we break up, I’ll still respect the decision, and maybe then we’ll both know it was coming, and it’ll hurt a little less…”

Cecil sniffled against Carlos’s shoulder, and managed a nod. “Okay. We can… take a little time.”

“Right. However long or not long you need,” Carlos assured, rubbing Cecil’s back slowly, “Now, do you wanna spend today cuddling on the couch? I think it might be nice to just relax together, if you wanted to?”

“Yeah.” 

There was another sniffle from Cecil, and then a gentle kiss to his cheek before he slowly got out of bed, pulling Carlos with him and staying close all the way into the living room. The television was turned on and the channel flipped until an episode of Iron Chef appeared on screen, and Cecil snuggled up to Carlos on the couch without a word.


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was taken down due to an issue with some comments, but now it's back!

Cecil didn’t want to talk, not yet anyway. Carlos knew that for certain, and he didn’t know what there was for him to say if he were the one to start the conversation with Cecil anyway. So, after the end of a cooking show marathon, a channel change, and one and a half episodes into a block of Have Gun - Will Travel, Carlos opted to let his actions do the talking while he had the chance.

The scientist’s hand had found Cecil’s within a few moments of sitting down, and now he brought that hand to his lips kissing Cecil’s fingers and the back of his hand lightly, before moving on to his wrist and slowly up his arm.

“What are you doing?” Cecil asked softly after noticing Carlos’s soft touches.

“Kissing you,” Carlos replied simply. “Do you want me to stop?”

Cecil shook his head and looked quizzically at Carlos for a moment. “Why are you kissing my arm?”

Carlos dropped a few more kisses to Cecil’s arm, moving up to his elbow as he did, before answering, “Because I’d like to kiss every part of you I love while I have the chance to, and your arm is as good a place to start as any.”

“How many parts of me do you plan to kiss?” Cecil asked, a tiny smile pulling at his lips.

“Well,” Carlos replied after a short moment of thought, “all of them, if you’ll let me.”

Cecil giggled. “You’re sweet.”

“You are too.”

“Really?”

Carlos laughed and kissed Cecil’s arm again, playfully licking his lips afterward, “Speaking literally, you’re slightly salty. But metaphorically, you’re sweet.”

Cecil giggled again and pressed his face against Carlos’s shoulder to hide his smile.

“Are you feeling better about this morning?” the scientist asked tentatively, rubbing Cecil’s back.

“Yeah. I… I’ve still got a lot to think about. But right now this is good. Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m feeling okay,” Carlos replied, his words interrupted by his stomach growling softly. “Maybe a little hungry, though,” he chuckled.

“Oh, Carlos… You haven’t eaten yet today, have you?” Cecil sighed, “I just dragged you out here and didn’t even think about you not having breakfast.”

“I didn’t mind. But maybe we can make some lunch?”

“I think we can do that.”

“Especially if I’m going to keep kissing you. Wouldn’t want to get too hungry and try to eat you,” Carlos joked as he and Cecil stood up. 

“Well, maybe save that for later...” Cecil smirked, earning a laugh and a small kiss on the lips from Carlos as they made their way into the kitchen.

***  
Two large wheat-free sandwiches and a few more Westerns later, Cecil had been thoroughly kissed along his arms and chest and then from mid-thigh down. 

“I think you’ll be starting to run out of place on me to kiss pretty soon…” he said with a smirk.

“Oh, I’ve still got a bit more to go yet,” Carlos assured, rubbing along Cecil’s side as he pressed a kiss to Cecil’s cheek.

“And more and more every day, it feels like,” Cecil sighed, rubbing over his stomach.

Carlos chuckled, and kissed the curve of Cecil’s abdomen. “I can’t say I mind that one bit.” 

Cecil raised an eyebrow. “Are you… into that or...?”

“No,” Carlos said quickly, before correcting himself, “I mean, no, but it isn’t a turn off. You’re growing a whole little eventual person inside you. And that’s kind of remarkable. And you’re already remarkable, Cecil. So when you consider that, the fact that there’s a bit more of you to kiss and touch and marvel at… it’s… neat.”

The radio host blushed brightly at the word “neat” and buried his face in Carlos’s shoulder, playfully swatting at the opposite one when Carlos started to laugh. “It isn’t funny…”

“But it is really cute how embarrassed you get,” Carlos protested, giving Cecil a playful squeeze, and taking the opportunity to kiss the back of Cecil’s neck.

Cecil only grumbled in response, although he was smiling, turning his head to press his lips to Carlos’s skin.

Carlos laughed again, thoroughly peppering the back of Cecil’s neck with soft kisses before speaking. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Cecil echoed, pulling back to kiss Carlos’s lips gently, then laying his head back down for more kisses.

By the time Carlos’s lips had touched most everywhere they could reach in that position, Cecil’s stomach was growling. “Time to take a break to make dinner?”

“You don’t have to stop while we make dinner,” Cecil suggested, pulling back a bit and stretching as he got up.

“You want me to nibble on you to tide me over while we cook?” Carlos teased, standing as well and following Cecil into the kitchen.

Cecil giggled. “/Maybe/. I mean, you’ve got a lot of me left to kiss...” 

“Your back, and your stomach, and then some other nice places, but I don’t think you want those exposed in the kitchen…” 

“We’ll work something out,” Cecil smirked, giving Carlos a playful wink as he got a start on dinner.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday and happy new chapter! 
> 
> If you're subscribed to me as an creator/this fic and you got notifications of 2 chapters going up, it's because I had to take chapter 28 down due to an issue with some comments a few days ago and just put it back up.

It took Cecil a bit of convincing to get Carlos to let him wear just an apron as he cooked the stir fry for supper, but he managed it and was quite pleased by the attention his boyfriend carefully lavished on his back. He didn’t let himself think of the future for the moment, only caring touches and delicious food. Maybe if he didn’t think about it so much, he wouldn’t worry, and everything would work out okay.

After dinner, things proceeded to the bedroom. Cecil stripped and laid on the bed, waiting for the scientist to settle down next to him.

Carlos undressed down to his boxers and stood at the foot of the bed. “Do you want to-”

“Yes,” Cecil said emphatically, wanting Carlos in the bed already, “Yes, I want to everything.”

“Alright,” the scientist half chuckled, climbing into bed and resting a hand on Cecil’s side, “I just want to make sure. It’s okay if we slow things down. I know that you have a lot to think about, and if you don’t sex on top of all that, I’d understand.”

“Do you want to have sex?” Cecil asked, just a touch worried, reminded of the thinking he had to be doing, and wondering if Carlos was waiting for a quick answer on it all before before they resumed regular relationship activities, if they were even going to.

“If you want to,” Carlos replied, “I’d like to at least finish kissing the rest of you… but just cuddling would be nice, too.”

Cecil smirked a bit. “I really like the sound of the first thing…” he admitted, looking into Carlos’s eyes and hoping the look there meant that the scientist wasn’t overthinking this as much as he was and Carlos just wanted to make love to him as a normal part of the relationship, wherever it stood.

Carlos leaned in to kiss his lips briefly. “I can manage that, I think.” After the first kiss, Carlos pulled back and slid down a bit, murmuring a “This might be easier if you sit up?” that Cecil obliged, and began kissing his stomach.

The broadcaster smiled softly at the kisses, feeling a flutter in his stomach, not entirely sure if it was giddiness about the kisses or the baby actually kicking him. He didn’t care much which it was, it just felt extra nice at the moment, and he wasn’t going to over-analyze it at the moment.

Eventually, Carlos’s lips reached Cecil’s thighs, and the tone of the interaction changed just slightly, the fluttering in his stomach no longer concerning Cecil at all.

Cecil’s hand found it’s way into Carlos’s hair with a pleased hum, and he shut his eyes to better focus on the touches that trailed along his thighs and teasingly avoided his length for the longest time. After a little squirming, he heard a chuckled, and finally felt Carlos’s lips press gently against his length and trail along it. 

Carlos licked lightly from tip to base and down along Cecil’s balls, earning a loud whine from the broadcaster when his lips pulled away.

“Carloooos, why’d you stop?”

“Sorry. I just think it would be nice if you turned over, and I could finish kissing the rest of you?” Carlos murmured, chuckling just a little, “But I can go back to what I was doing if you really want me to?“

Cecil whined again but let go of Carlos’s hair. “If you insist,” he said mock annoyed as he rolled over and got on his hands and knees.

The scientist gave Cecil a kiss on jaw quickly before settling behind him and proceeded to press kisses to the curve of his ass. After he’d thoroughly kissed and gently bit on cheek, he pulled back enough to speak. “We don’t have, uh, a proper barrier for me to get /every/ part of you… But would you like me to… fuck you as a consolation?”

“Yes please,” Cecil replied enthusiastically, looking back at Carlos needily, forgetting about any troubles for the moment.

Nodding, Carlos pulled away completely to grab the bottle of lubricant in the nightstand drawer. He slicked up one finger to begin with and teased at Cecil’s entrance as his lips found their way to the other cheek to finish his mission of kissing every bit of Cecil.

Cecil moaned softly as he felt a finger slip into him. Everything felt so much better than he’d remembered it feeling in years, maybe ever, and he didn’t know whether to attribute it to pregnancy hormones, or the new relationship, or specifically Carlos.

More kisses and more fingers followed, Cecil loving every movement and rocking his hips back to encourage more. Finally, Carlos took the hint and pulled his fingers out, gripping himself and giving himself a few strokes. “This position okay?” he asked softly, shifting to kiss Cecil’s jaw again.

“To start with, yeah,” Cecil affirmed, turning his head to catch Carlos’s lips briefly, before the scientist nodded and pulled away to line up and push into him.

The pace was slow to begin with, and Cecil allowed it, staying mostly still as Carlos rocked into him. Carlos’s movements became deeper and more deliberate, but still slow, with him pausing occasionally to lean forward and whisper praise or drop a kiss to Cecil’s back or shoulder.

Eventually Cecil allowed himself to lower from his hands to his elbows, taking advangage of the more restful position to shift his weight and take himself in hand before Carlos stopped in his movements.

“Tired?” Carlos asked.

Cecil whined softly. “Maybe a little, but I like it like this.”

“Can we change positions?”

“Yeah. How do you want me?”

Carlos leaned forward and wrapped one arm around Cecil’s midsection, “Lay down, slowly, okay?”

Cecil made an affirmative noise and slowly lowered himself down, the scientist moving with him. Then felt himself being turned, Carlos rolling himself and Cecil onto their sides, staying close all the while. Eventually the pair settled comfortably on their sides, spooning, Carlos still inside him.

“Is this okay?” Carlos murmured against Cecil’s neck, taking Cecil’s erection in hand.

“More than okay,” Cecil assured, turning his head to attempt to kiss Carlos.

The scientist returned the gesture before starting to move, rocking into Cecil again and stroking him slowly.

It didn’t take long for Cecil to come in Carlos’s hand with a soft cry, the feeling building slowly and then overcoming him all at once.

Carlos followed not too long after, Cecil’s name on his lips as he finished, pressing kisses into Cecil’s skin for a few moments as they both came back to themselves.

Cecil let himself stay in a pleasant haze as Carlos pulled out and grabbed tissues to clean them both up. Shutting his eyes, the broadcaster drifted off to sleep, still in Carlos’s arms, with no thoughts troubling him for the night.


	30. Chapter 30

“Should I move out?” Cecil asked, almost too casually over a leisurely breakfast the next morning.

The casualness didn’t stop Carlos from sputtering and spilling coffee on the table. “What?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking since I got up,” the broadcaster explained, handing over a napkin apologetically, “and I think we did move things a little fast, so maybe we should dial it back a bit…”

After a moment of slightly panicked thought and cleaning of spilled coffee, Carlos looked at Cecil. “Cecil, I… I mean, if you’d like to move out, you can. It’s your decision, of course. But I don’t want you to.“

Cecil nodded, but pressed, wanting to make sure that Carlos was completely sure. “Really?”

“Really. I like living with you, Cecil. It’s nice having someone to come home to, to remind me to take breaks from science sometimes, to curl up with and wake up next to…” Carlos said softly, “I know we moved maybe too fast, but we can’t really just undo that. And I don’t think you need the stress of finding and paying for a new place suddenly in the middle of your pregnancy when you have a stable home already…”

“You’re so sweet, Carlos…” Cecil said, nearly tearing up. He wiped at his eyes and swore lightly under his breath before looking at his slightly concerned boyfriend across the table. “I don’t mean to be so emotional…” 

Carlos stood and walked around the table to put an arm around Cecil, rubbing his arm slowly and soothingly. “I understand, Cecil. I know this isn’t easy for you-”

“It can’t be easy for you, either…” Cecil interjected.

“Honestly,” Carlos said softly, “it isn’t. But I’m not the one who is pregnant. I don’t have hormones at levels my body is unaccustomed to coursing through my veins. I don’t have a tiny something growing inside me which I am expected to sacrifice for and care for. So I’m going to be patient while you figure things out.”

Cecil sniffled a bit and curled against Carlos to take comfort in him. “You’re so sweet.”

“I’m glad you think so,” Carlos chuckled, continuing to rub Cecil’s arm slowly until the radio host pulled away slightly.

“You have to go to the lab today, don’t you?” Cecil sighed as he pulled back, “and I have to go to the station.”

“Correct,” Carlos agreed a bit reluctantly. “As much as I would enjoy staying home with you, talking, perhaps cuddling some more, it’s a very busy week for science coming up...”

“It isn’t a very busy week in radio, or at least the City Council says it shouldn’t be. But I guess I have enough of my own, non-radio thinking to be doing,” Cecil murmured, taking one of the last bites of his breakfast.

Carlos kissed Cecil’s cheek softly before sitting back down to finish his own food. “If you need anything, you can always call. And maybe this weekend we’ll go on a date?”

Cecil nodded with a little smile. “I’d like that,” he replied as he got up, taking his plate over to the sink to wash it and reluctantly get ready for the day.

*** 

It was a long week. A very long week, which could not be entirely attributed to any weirdness regarding time, with Carlos keeping very busy with science while managing to find just a few moments to spend with Cecil every night, and Cecil thinking so much that the Secret Police threatened to give him multiple citations for it.

But, finally, it was Saturday, and Cecil was waiting in a booth at the Pinkberry for Carlos to show up for their date.

It was about twenty minutes after the time Carlos had suggested they met up, but Cecil still smiled when he saw Carlos walk in the door and slide into the opposite side of the booth. 

“Sorry I’m late,” Carlos said, reaching across the table to take Cecil’s hand.

“It’s okay,” Cecil hummed, disappointed with how late Carlos was, but hiding as best he could. “I didn’t know what you wanted, so I got you the same thing you had the last time we came here. And it’s a little melty.”

Carlos squeezed Cecil’s hand for a moment before letting it go. “That’s fine,” he replied, “we were testing samples from the lawn of the house that doesn’t exist today and time got away from me.”

Cecil nodded, pulling his hand back and taking a bite of his half eaten frozen yogurt. “That sounds really interesting,” he commented, hoping that if Carlos talked excitedly about his work, it would distract him from his continued over thinking.

“It is,” Carlos agreed, “all of the particles making up the ground exist. All the sand and rocks and dry plants are, according to tests so far, real and of a known make up and origin.”

“That’s great,” Cecil said, continuing to smile, half genuinely and half forced.

The scientist could be a little oblivious after a long day of scientific observation, but he noticed that Cecil was a little upset. “I’m sorry, Cecil. I know it’s been a hard week, and I haven’t been there for you. Time is weird in Night Vale. And there is so much to learn here. But… I have time to learn and spend with you. I want us to have time together,” he said, reaching into his pocket.

Cecil didn’t quite understand as Carlos pulled a watch out of his pocket. Carlos’s watch, with the worn leather band and simple clock face. A quick glance at Carlos’s wrist reveals a different watch on his wrist, the band silvery and the face more traditionally Night Valien.

“Don’t think of it as an engagement ring, or a promise ring,” Carlos said, his tone gentle and soft, “because I’m still not ready for those things right now. This is just something I want to give you.” He took Cecil’s hand and squeezed it gently, pulling it closer to him before continuing. “Although an anniversary is technically an annual event, many couples in new relationships celebrate monthly, and I’ve missed a few of those ‘anniversaries’. So you can think of this as making up for those, I guess.”

Still looking at the watch in Carlos’s hand, Cecil continued to be confused. “O-okay. I mean, thank you, Carlos… but why are you giving me your watch?”

Carlos looked into Cecil’s eyes as he fumbled, partly out of nervousness and partly because he wasn’t looking at what he was doing, to put the watch on Cecil’s wrist. “This is the one true timepiece in all of Night Vale, Cecil,” he explained, “all the other clocks aren’t real. They don’t appear to have workings. I’ve tested many of them extensively. But this one does. So it is very scientifically significant and important to me. You are also important to me. That’s why I’d like you to have it, Cecil.”

“The one true timepiece...?” Cecil echoed, tearing his eyes away from Carlos’s to look down at the watch. “Oh, Carlos… this- this is too important to your science, isn’t it? I can’t take this from you...”

“It is very important,” Carlos agreed, finally fastening the watch around Cecil’s wrist comfortably, “but so are you. I want you to have it. I want to think of time and things that are real and think of you, Cecil.”

Cecil took a moment to admire the watch on his wrist, feeling the cool metal and warm leather against his skin and the weight of it before looking back up to Carlos’s face before bursting into tears. “I love it, Carlos! I love you…”  
Carlos quickly scrambled over to the other side of the booth to wrap his arms around Cecil and kiss him gently. “I love you, too, Cecil. I know it isn’t what you asked for, and that this is a lot, but I hope you’ll stay with me…”

“Yeah,” the radio host assured between sniffles, “I’m sorry I’m so emotional right now. I want to stay with you. For better or for worse. And… I still want to get married someday. But I can wait. Really. It’s… probably going to be hard, but that’s okay…”

“Right,” Carlos agreed, kissing Cecil again and holding him, “it’s okay. We’re going to work it out. I love you.”

They sat like that for a little while, until Cecil composed himself, and pulled his half melted frozen yogurt closer, taking a spoonful for himself before offering one to Carlos.

The scientist chuckled, accepting the spoonful and pulling his own over to offer Cecil a spoonful of it. 

After feeding each other a few more bites, Cecil sighed happily. “Thank you, Carlos. So much.”

“You’re welcome, Cecil,” he replied around a spoonful of frozen yogurt sprinkles.

Cecil kissed Carlos once more and smiled. “Do I get to tell the town about my wonderful anniversary present next time I’m on air?”

“Of course you do,” Carlos replied with another laugh. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly short chapter this time, but I liked the word count.

Cecil and Carlos were moderately concerned with the new management, but it wasn’t like there was anything either of them could particularly do about it, and Strex Corp. did have a very reasonable maternity/paternity leave policy. With those fears put on the back burner, there was room in the front of Cecil’s mind for new ones.

Carlos came home from the lab one late afternoon, to find Cecil sitting on the floor, surrounded by books, and crying.

“I might’ve already been a horrible parent and I haven’t even had her yet!” Cecil wailed as he looked up to see Carlos and the confused look on the scientist’s face.

“What are you talking about? Cecil, what’s wrong?” Carlos asked, stepping closer to Cecil with worry.

“I started reading the baby books, you know? Steve said he’d renewed the books online for an extra week, but he’d need to take them back this weekend, so I thought I should take a look at them. And a lot of them have sections on before the baby’s born...” Cecil sniffled pitifully and pointed to one of the books, “That one says that I should’ve been taking folic acid for three months before I conceived! And it says that any amount of alcohol at all at any point is unsafe, but that one,” he pointed to another book, “says that ‘studies haven’t found any harm from as much as a small glass of wine a week’! And then one says that something in fish is really good for developing brains, but another says to avoid fish! And I might supposed to already have a name picked out so I can bond with the baby, and some of them recommend setting a schedule for the baby once they’re born, but some of them don’t and every book is telling me something different, and it’s all so confusing Carlos!”

Carlos sat down next to Cecil among the books. “Cecil, I know, it’s okay,” he assured.

“How is it okay!?” Cecil interjected before burying his face against Carlos’s shoulder.

“There are a lot of things about raising children that haven’t been researched, or have been but researched has changed, or research hasn’t shown a definitive way to do something, and there are advantages and disadvantages to most everything,” Carlos explained carefully, “So the books give suggestions, telling you the research at the time it was published, and what the author has experience with and likes. Another author will have a different opinion, and a book from a different time period will pull from different research. So I understand that it can all be confusing.”

Cecil looked up at Carlos, still obviously distressed. “But how do I know what’s the right way to do things?”

Carlos rubbed Cecil’s back for a moment as he thought before replying. “Well, finding the most well researched and up to date information can help. But for a lot of it, you’ll just have to find out what works best for you through trial and error.”

“That’s not what I wanted to hear…” Cecil sighed.

“I know,” Carlos assured, “but you’ll have people to help you. And people have been having children for thousands upon thousands of years, without books to guide them. It’s okay.”

“Thank you,” Cecil murmured, keeping his face pressed against Carlos’s shoulder.

The scientist continued to hold Cecil for a few moments, idly rubbing his back and resting his head against Cecil’s. “You know… my mother has been wanting to talk to you…” he said eventually, “and I’m sure she’d love to give you all sorts of baby raising advice…”

Cecil looked up at Carlos thoughtfully, “And you’re sure you’re ready for me to be talking to your mother?”

“If I don’t let her talk to you soon, I’m afraid she’s going to find your phone number somehow and call you herself,” Carlos chuckled.

“Then, I think I’d like to talk to your mother sometime,” Cecil said with a small smile, giving Carlos a kiss.


	32. Chapter 32

And so, a few days later, while Carlos made dinner, Cecil got a chance to speak with Carlos’s mother.

“Um, hello?” the broadcaster said, caught a little bit off-guard by Carlos handing his cell phone over to him, the only explanation being, “Mama,” as the scientist walked past him and into the kitchen.

“Oh! You’re Cecil? My Carlos said you had a wonderful voice, but I didn’t expect it to be so deep and nice! I can tell why you’re on the radio,” the cheery voice on the other end commented.

“Thank you, Mrs. -”

“You can just call me Rosita. I’m so glad to get to talk to you!”

“I’m glad to be talking to you as well,” Cecil assured, “Carlos said that you’ve been wanting to talk to me.”

“Well, of course I want to talk to my son’s _boyfriend_! Especially when you’re so serious in your relationship! I mean you’re having a baby together. Or something. I don’t pretend to understand all this, but I’m glad you two are happy,” Rosita replied, her voice cheerful.

“Thank you, that means a lot. And I’ve been wanting to talk to you, too.” Cecil paused for a moment then before continuing, his voice just a little sad, “I don’t have my mother anymore… and this baby thing is a little overwhelming and unexpected and… Carlos said I should try talking to you, that you might have some advice or something.”

Rosita voice softened when she replied, “Oh Cecil, I’m sorry about your mother. Of course you can talk to me. I’ll be here. I can’t imagine how hard it must be, doing this without family.”

“I have family, a sister and a niece and a brother-in-law. But it’s different. And, uh, the baby’s, uh, biological father didn’t have family either.”

“Well, you can consider me family now. Even if my Carlitos won’t marry you for some reason...”

“Carlos and I talked about that,” Cecil chuckled awkwardly, “And we’re just not ready for that step yet. But someday we will be. There’s no reason to rush it, we think.”

From the kitchen, Carlos called out, as if on cue, “Mama, don’t hassle Cecil about the marriage thing. We’ve all talked about it.”  
Rosita laughed at the sound of her son’s voice muffled from distance. “I could never get any of my children to do what I wanted them to do if it wasn’t what they wanted for themselves,” she sighed happily. “I just think it’d be a good reminder to be good to each other and there’s more than just you two involved here. But I guess you’re making each other happy this way.”

“We are,” Cecil said, holding back a sigh, “Carlos makes me very happy, and as far as he’s told me, I make him happy, too.”

“That’s all a mother can really ask for,” Rosita sighed with the sort of mixture of fondness and defeat that only a mother could manage. “But you’re family now anyway. And your baby is my grandchild, no matter what.”

Cecil sniffled a little bit, touched by Rosita’s words. “That means a lot. Thank you. So much.” He paused for another moment, pulling himself together with some difficulty, but losing composure again quickly. “Everything is just so confusing. All the baby books say different things and I don’t know what’s right or wrong and I can’t ask my mother how she raised me, and-and-and the doctors say that my baby is okay, which is good, really good, but that’s still unknown territory for me because Janice - that’s my niece- had some medical issues at birth and I feel like I should be more prepared, I mean we don’t even have the second bedroom cleaned out to make into a nursery yet, and I didn’t even know I was pregnant until I was nearly three months because I didn’t even think I could have a baby like this and -”

Cecil’s shaky, nearly tearful words were cut off when he felt Carlos’s gentle hand on his shoulder, guiding him to sit down in the kitchen. “It’s okay, Cecil. Let Mama talk,” the scientist said softly, kissing the top of Cecil’s head before returning to preparing dinner.

The radio host calmed then, managing a shaky “Sorry,” half into the phone and half not.

A moment later, Rosita’s voice rang through the receiver, soft and caring. “It’s fine, Cecil. I understand. Even when things are planned it can be overwhelming. Sometimes the best and only thing you can do is sit down, relax, have Carlos make you a cup of tea, and let things take their course. Now why don’t we start taking things one at a time?”

“Yeah, yeah, one thing at a time…” Cecil said, taking a few breaths and collecting his thoughts, letting Rosita’s words calm and soothe him.


	33. Chapter 33

Carlos made a point to not eavesdrop as Cecil and his mother talked throughout dinner, waiting for the call to end and Cecil to hand his phone back before asking him about it. “Did you have a nice talk with Mama?”

“Yeah,” Cecil replied with a happy sigh, “It was… really nice. Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” Carlos insisted, “Although you could help wash the dishes…”

The radio host laughed at that, and nodded, getting up from the table and starting on cleaning up while Carlos set his phone to charge.

When he returned to the kitchen, Carlos wrapped his arms around Cecil’s middle, resting his hands on the bulge of Cecil’s abdomen and rubbing over it idly.

“Are you going to help with the dishes, or just stand there and rub my tummy?” Cecil teased.

The scientist laughed, kissing Cecil’s cheek before pulling away. “I guess I could help with the dishes. As long as I get to go back to touching you after.”

Cecil smirked and handed Carlos a cloth and a cleaned dish. “I’m okay with that.”

The couple washed the dishes in a companionable silence, with a few playful splashes and swats of a towel, before retiring to the living room. Cecil curled up to Carlos’s side and put the scientist’s hand on his bump with a happy sigh.

After a few more moments, Carlos felt a movement beneath his hand. “Is that…?”

“Hmm? She’s just kicking. She gets restless in the evening. I’ve got myself a little night owl…” Cecil replied idly before the realization hit him. “You can feel it?”

“Yeah!” Carlos said excitedly, “I can feel her kicking!” He rubbed gently over Cecil’s stomach, trying to feel more movement.

Cecil chuckled a bit, shaking his head. “It feels nice, so I don’t want to tell you to stop, but you can’t make her kick like that. I’ve tried. You can’t make her stop kicking, either. I’ve definitely tried that, too.”

Carlos kissed Cecil’s lips and then bent down to kiss his stomach softly. “Sorry. That was just… remarkable, Cecil. You have a moving, growing, living... /future person/ inside of you, and I can feel it now, too!”

“It’s okay,” the broadcaster assured, “I think it’s pretty great, too. You can feel her, and Janice will be so excited to feel her. And everyone else will be able to, too. Maybe now someone will believe how hard she kicks. And you really can keep doing what you were doing…”

Laughing softly, Carlos resumed the rubbing, still idly trying to feel for movement as Cecil turned on the television and the sounds of the opening to Cat Ballou filled the room.

Once the movie was over, Cecil yawned and got up from the couch with some difficulty before pulling Carlos into the bathroom to get ready for bed. “She was mostly kicking my back during the movie,” he commented after spitting out his toothpaste.

Carlos nodded. “Don’t worry, I don’t take offense. I might sleep with my hand on you just in case she flips around, though,” he teased lightly, leading Cecil into the bedroom before finally pulling away from him for a moment to slip into pajamas and under the covers.

“I don’t think I’d mind that. You’re always welcome to touch me,” Cecil smirked lightly, joining Carlos in bed and snuggling up to him.

The scientist raised an eyebrow. “Is that an innuendo?”

Cecil continued to smirk, leaning in just a little bit. “No… but, well, the kicking does sometimes keep me up, and there’s less of it, you know, during, and it helps me fall asleep faster after, so…”

“Honey, you just ask for sex, you don’t have to justify it,” Carlos laughed, shaking his head and resting his hand on Cecil’s hip.

Cecil’s smirk softened into a gentle smile. “Did you just call me honey?”

Carlos paused to think, and then began to blush, biting at his lip in embarrassment. “I did. Do you not want me to do that? I’m sorry. I-”

“No, no! I like it,” Cecil assured, “You just haven’t called me that before. But I like it.”

“I’ve thought it before,” Carlos admitted, “what with your voice and how sweet you are… But I guess I’ve just never said it. You really like it and you’re not just sparing my feelings?”

Cecil nodded, leaning in to kiss Carlos softly. “I like it.”

Grinning, Carlos returned the kiss. “So… honey… do you want to fool around?”

“I would love to,” Cecil replied, going in for another kiss, “so long as I get to keep kissing you.”

“I think I can manage that,” Carlos murmured as he hooked his fingers in the elastic of Cecil’s pajama bottoms and dragged them down to mid-thigh. Taking a moment to do the same for himself, he then shifted his position to grip himself and Cecil and began stroking both of their lengths.

Cecil’s hips bucked immediately, and it was clear to Carlos that he wouldn’t be content to lay back and let him do all the work tonight.

Loosening his grip slightly, the scientist moaned against Cecil’s lips, speaking muffled praises as they grinded together.

It didn’t take long at all before Cecil finished, coming with a grunt and a sleepy, embarassed little whine as he pressed his face against Carlos’s shoulder.

Holding in a chuckle at the whine, Carlos kissed the side of Cecil’s face and let go of him to finish himself off quickly before grabbing a tissue to clean up the mess. “Good night, honey. I love you,” he whispered as he tucked himself and his boyfriend back into their respective pajamas and pulled him closer.

“I love you, too,” Cecil barely managed, “Goodnight.”


	34. Chapter 34

Cecil’s text was shaky and typo-ridden as he sent it out, but it was apparently decipherable enough that Carlos was able to reply with a “I’m already on my way” or maybe the scientist had just guessed at the message’s contents after listening to the show; Cecil wasn’t sure and he really didn’t care so long as his boyfriend was on his way.

It was a little surprising that he made it down to the station’s front steps by the time Carlos arrived, but Cecil had to check the bathroom mirror before he left. He took every step unsteady and unsure until he’d made it into the men’s room and sighed with relief when he saw the curtain covering the reflective glass above the sink. His heart was still pounding as he shut the door and made his way out to see Carlos pulling up.

The scientist still had his lab gear on as he scrambled out of the car and to Cecil’s side, holding him close and down the steps then into the car. 

“I… that was… I don’t…”

“Shh… I know,” Carlos soothed, carding through Cecil’s hair as he slowly began to pull away for just long enough to get back into the driver’s seat.

“I never knew, I mean, I always knew that I didn’t know what happened to Mom…” Cecil managed as Carlos buckled his seatbelt for him and took his hand. “But I … I can’t… I don’t have a brother. Couldn’t have a brother. Abby would tell me if we had a brother. Right?”

Carlos squeezed Cecil hand as he did his own seat belt. “We’ll figure it out, okay? That is what scientists do, figure things out. I am a scientist, and you are my boyfriend, which makes you kind of a scientist, too. We’re all kind of scientists, really. And we will figure this out. But first we are going to get you home, and have some food, and calm down a little together.”

“Okay,” Cecil nodded in reply, trying to calm himself while keeping a hold of Carlos’s arm as the scientist began to drive.

When they arrived at their home, Carlos guided Cecil inside, sitting him down on the couch and wrapping a blanket around him. “Are you hungry?”

“No.”

“If I made food would you eat a little for me?” 

“Yes.”

“Then I’m going to get you a nice warm cup of soup, okay?”  
Cecil nodded, reaching out and holding onto Carlos’s hand until his boyfriend had pulled too far away to continue to do so. By the time Carlos returned three and a half minutes later with two cups of soup, he had curled in on himself and started crying.

“Cecil, it’s okay,” Carlos assured, setting the cups down on the coffee table and curling up to Cecil. “I’m here, and you’re okay.”

“I don’t remember having a brother,” Cecil sobbed, his head swimming as he shook in Carlos’s arms, “I don’t remember interning at the station. Why don’t I remember so much? Was it taken from me? Is it all going to be taken again? Did-”

Carlos cupped Cecil’s cheek gently, causing him to pause in his frantic questioning. “Cecil, honey, I know this is scary for you. It’s scary for me, so I can’t imagine how scary it is for you. But worrying isn’t going to help. We’ll talk about it, and we’ll do our best to figure things out. I know you’re upset, and it’s okay. But please breathe and eat, okay? Just a little. For me. Please?”

After a moment, Cecil nodded, taking in a few deep breaths and just resting his head on Carlos’s shoulder as his boyfriend picked up the tray from the coffee table again and sat it on his lap. He took an offered spoonful of warm soup and relaxed slightly, allowing the tears to dry on his cheeks. Carlos fed him a few more spoonfuls before he was ready to take his own cup, although he only managed about half of it before he didn’t feel he could stomach much more.

It was a little while after Cecil stopped eating that Carlos finished, taking their cups and setting the tray back on the coffee table before pulling Cecil closer again. “Are you feeling better?”

“No.”

“Do you want to talk now?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m listening.”

Cecil stayed quiet for a moment, just until he got the courage to speak. “I’m scared.”

“I know, and it’s okay to be scared.”

“I shouldn’t have listened to that tape. I should have never had that tape. I don’t have those memories. Those things never happened!” Cecil paused, feeling himself getting worked up, and letting Carlos rub his shoulder to soothe him for a moment before continuing. “I don’t remember having a brother. Or interning at the radio station. I don’t know so many things. I didn’t even know I didn’t know these things. I want to know why. I’m afraid I’m not allowed to. I don’t know what happened to my mom. What if they took her? And my brother? I don’t even know who they is but what if whoever they are did? And they took so many of my memories of them for some reason? I never remembered much from my childhood, just I was always going to be the Voice of Night Vale, and some things about my mom, and ...Earl…”

Carlos nodded, rubbing Cecil’s arm some more, just waiting for Cecil to continue again.

“Earl’s gone now. What if they take my memories of him, too? What if they take you? Or…” he trailed off, putting his hand on his abdomen and tearing up again.

“Cecil,” Carlos said gently, “Night Vale… is a very strange place. A wonderfully strange place. And I can’t make any promises about the future. But I can promise that I will do all I can to fight against any of those things happening.”

“But what if you can’t stop it!?” Cecil interjected, sniffling and having obvious trouble staying calm.

Carlos bit his lip and thought for a moment, pulling Cecil even closer. “What is it you’ve said before… ‘Some things aren’t meant to be questioned? Most things, actually,’ ? As a scientist, I’m not sure if I can agree with that, but I didn’t grow up in Night Vale. Maybe this is one of those things. A future we cannot see much less change. I love you, and I don’t want anything like this to happen, but there isn’t use worrying about it when we don’t even know what happened, or if anything will happen in the future. Or if there even is a future, with time as strange as it is. So let’s focus on the present?”

Cecil nodded, resting his head on Carlos’s chest and sniffling a little. “Okay…” 

The pair sat together for a long time, calming down slowly and nearly falling asleep.

Eventually Cecil spoke again. “You can finish cleaning out the closet, right?” he asked softly, “I… I know I said I’d do it, but I... don’t want to look through the rest of the things in there…”

Carlos nodded. “Of course. I’ll clean it out tomorrow while you’re at work, okay? Right now, let’s just get some sleep.”

“Yeah,” the radio host murmured, “let’s get some sleep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As we learn more and more about the world of Night Vale, I give up on trying to update and rewrite things to fit with current canon. The last change I'm going to go back and make in this fic is updating Cecil's sister's name, now that we have one officially.
> 
> Also as an FYI, it might be a month between this chapter and the next, because the next two weeks are "omg everyone who didn't graduate last year is graduating now, let's get together and see each other and set things on fire before we all split up across the country" time, so it's a little hectic.


	35. Chapter 35

Over the course of the next few weeks, the spare bedroom was cleaned out and painted, memories that should not have been remembered were forgotten as best they could be, serious conversations about the Night Vale public school system and its safety were had, and a routine was settled into. 

Tonight was Wednesday, which meant Cecil and Carlos were curled up on the couch together, eating fixed up leftovers from Tuesday - when Carlos cooked while Cecil talked with Mama to recover from having to have dinner with Steve (and Abby and Janice, although those two were little hardship, especially compared to Steve) on Monday - and watching an episode of The Twilight Zone.

As the episode ended with a “...for which three cheers and a unanimous decision rendered from the Twilight Zone...“ and a fade to a commercial for cheese-based snacks, Carlos turned to press a kiss to Cecil’s cheek as he rubbed over his boyfriend’s ever growing middle, feeling the baby kick again.

Cecil turned and returned the kissed to Carlos’s lips before resting his head on the scientist’s shoulder with a happy sigh. “About… three more months of this, I think.”

“Yeah, you’re almost to your third trimester,” Carlos agreed, “it won’t be long at all before we’re holding her....”

“That’s… exciting and scary,” Cecil replied thoughtfully, allowing his hand to rest atop Carlos’s.

The scientist smiled, locking his fingers with Cecil’s. “Many things are. Good things.”

Cecil sighed contentedly. “I know.”

After another moment of content quiet, save for the television - now playing a poorly shot local ad for Jerry’s Tacos in the background - Carlos murmured, “have you been thinking about names for her, or anything…?”

“Well, I know she needs a name,” the broadcaster replied, frowning just a little for a moment, “Abby let Janice name herself, so she didn’t have a name until she was four, and that was awkward. Not to mention the amount of paperwork she had to do and have you ever tried to hold a four year old still during a bloodstone naming ceremony? I can’t imagine if she’d been able to walk, too. She’d probably still be unnamed, officially. Plus, Steve said he was one of those people who think it’s bad luck to name a baby before it’s born, so I know that’s stupid.”

Carlos chuckled lightly at that before letting Cecil continue.  
“I…well, there’s a lot of things to think about for the future. What she’ll look like, the baby furniture, what she’ll call us… I haven’t gotten around to thinking about names yet, though.”

“That’s fine, Cecil, you don’t have to have a name picked out yet, I was just wondering,” Carlos assured. “We can take a day next week and look for baby furniture, though, start thinking about some of those future things.”

“That would be good. I’d like that,” Cecil nodded, a smile returning to his face as he turned to kiss Carlos’s jaw chastely.

After that, they settled into another companionable silence as the opening to Cat Ballou began to play on the television.

“I think I want her to have Earl’s last name,” Cecil commented, his tone almost but not quite casual as the movie paused for a commercial, “She… she should have something of his, in life. And… I remember, you said she might not look much like him so… I want her to have his name. If that’s alright with you?”

Carlos was a little taken aback at the question, and pulled away a bit to look at Cecil. “Of course that would be alright.”

“Well, I just wanted to ask, because, you know, she’s… we both want us to work and we’re going to raise her as ours… so…” Cecil trailed off, biting his lip a little.

“Cecil, she’s ours. But before that, more than anything else, she is yours. And if you feel something is right for her, you don’t need permission,” the scientist assured, rubbing over Cecil’s middle again and giving him a kiss to the cheek. “But, if you’re asking my opinion, I think that’s a wonderful idea.”

“You do?”

“Yeah,” Carlos said with a little nod. “I know how much Earl meant to you, and how much you want her to know of him, and what a good man he was. So giving her his name sounds like a good thing.” He leaned down to kiss Cecil’s bump gently, murmuring, “Baby Girl Harlan,” as he did, before sitting back up.

“I think she likes the sound of it too, if that kick means anything,” Cecil added with a chuckle as he felt a jab just as Carlos’s lips pulled away.

Carlos chuckled and gave Cecil a proper kiss. “I guess it’s settled, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long weekend, short chapter? The next two weeks are busy for me, too, so the next chapter may also be a little late.
> 
> Thanks to IMDb for having the closing narration of the Twilight Zone episode "Steel" featuring Lee Marvin.


	36. Chapter 36

Carlos was already in bed by the time Cecil got home, dozing gently. Quietly slipping out of his work clothes and into the bed to join him, Cecil gave him a chaste kiss. “I’m home…”

“Hi,” the scientist managed, opening his eyes and smiling softly.

Cecil echoed the “Hi,” and snuggled up close to his boyfriend, “I hope you don’t mind me joining you for a nap?”

“Nnnope. You tired, too?” Carlos mumbled.

“I’m pregnant, I’m always tired,” Cecil chuckled softly, resting his head on Carlos’s chest and shutting his eyes. 

The couple laid in bed for a while, Carlos dozing for a few moments until he was woken by Cecil shifting to get more comfortable, the broadcaster trying to stay still but being unable to quite fall asleep, and the whole process repeating itself a few times.

“You don’t have to lay with me if you have something you want to do instead, Cecil,” Carlos said softly.

Cecil frowned a bit, shaking his head, “Well, I was thinking of getting a start on the runes in the nursery, but I want to spend time with you more. I’m just not sleepy…”

Carlos sighed gently and ran a hand through his hair. “Well, I’m not going to get to sleep with you tossing and turning, so... what do you want to do?”

“Well, we could fool around…” Cecil teased.

“If you can figure out how to do that without me having to do any work, we can,” Carlos replied sleepily.

The broadcaster raised an eyebrow at that, skeptical and perhaps a touch hopeful. “Really?”

“If it’ll get you to sleep? Yes,” Carlos assured.

“I mean, we don’t have to… but I’m pregnant so I sort of always want to…” Cecil chuckled, thinking for a moment before continuing, “Do you want me to ride you or could try… doing it the other way around than we usually do…”

It took Carlos’s tired mind a moment to realize what Cecil was asking, but once he’d figured it out, he smirked. “Do you want to top, Cecil?”

“Well…” Cecil blushed softly, “Yeah, I’d like to try it. If you’re okay with that! I don’t know if this -” he rubbed over his midsection fondly, “- will be in the way too much, though...”

“I can move enough to roll over and be on my knees, if that will help?” Carlos suggested.

Cecil grinned excitedly. “Yeah, we can try that.”

With some effort, Carlos managed to roll over and shift onto his knees, his face still very much pressed into the pillow.

Meanwhile, Cecil was already excitedly grabbing the lube from the nightstand and slipping out of his underwear. As he pulled down Carlos’s boxers he kissed the scientist’s back and along the curve of his ass before pulling away to slick up his fingers.

“If I’d known you were this enthusiastic about it, we would have done this sooner,” Carlos chuckled, before gasping softly at the sensation of Cecil already pushing a finger in. “Honey, it’s been a while, go slow.”

“Oh, sorry,” Cecil murmured, slipping his finger out and rubbing over Carlos’s entrance soothingly, pressing a few more kisses into his skin until the fingertip slipped in freely.

Carlos adjusted quickly and was rocking back against Cecil’s finger within a few moments. “You don’t have to go /so/ slow…” he hinted, lifting his head enough to look back at his boyfriend.

Cecil took the hint with a chuckle, shifting around to kiss Carlos’s lips briefly before resettling behind him as he slipped a second finger in.

It wasn’t long until Carlos was almost but not quite begging for a third, and the broadcaster obliged, pulling a few moans from his boyfriend as he slowly worked the third finger in and stretched him until Carlos assured him he was ready for more.

Sliding his fingers out, Cecil reached over to the nightstand drawer and fumbled around for a moment before frowning. “Carlos… we don’t have any condoms, do we?”

“I… don’t think so,” he said after a moment of thought, “which is why we hadn’t done this yet…”

“Dammit.”

“Sorry,” Carlos murmured, pressing his face back into the pillow again, “I didn’t think of that…”

Cecil sighed softly and shook his head. “It’s okay. Lay back down and I can work myself open and ride you?”

The scientist shook his head a little. “Nnn, that’ll take too long, just use my thighs.”

“Your thighs?” the broadcaster questioned.

“Mmmhmm. My first time, the boy I was seeing and I were both nervous and he tried to move too fast working it me open and it hurt, so he panicked and abandoned the idea of anal and just ended up sliding between my thighs until he finished,” Carlos replied, pulling his legs together and waiting.

Cecil paused for a moment glancing from his half-stiff erection to Carlos’s thighs and finally to his boyfriend’s face, the scientist having turned to look back at him again. “Okay…” He poured a generous amount of lubricant onto Carlos’s thighs and slicked himself up with the excess before lining up.

There was some awkward shifting from both parties to get into a comfortable position, but soon enough Cecil was rocking at a gentle but pleasing pace.

“This is nice,” he murmured, “although I think I’d like to do what we originally had planned sometime. We’ll have to pick up condoms next time we’re out.”

“Mmmhmm,” Carlos managed sleepily, halfway to nodding off even with Cecil’s movement.

“Hey, if I need to make it a little more interesting, just tell me, don’t go falling asleep on me,” Cecil tsked, mock-offended, and slid a hand around to grip Carlos’s length and begin to stroke him in time with the motions of his hips.

Their pace was slow, as lazy as the day had been for Cecil, and Carlos did nod off a few times, despite Cecil’s best efforts. Those efforts paid off in the scientist reaching orgasm some time before Cecil managed the same, but Carlos stayed in position, even making himself rock back a little until his boyfriend finished, coming with a cry of “Carlos!” as he spilled between his thighs.

Cecil didn’t even have to pull away, Carlos taking care of that by collapsing flat beneath him, not even caring that both he and the bed below him were a sticky mess. The broadcaster didn’t mind, though, finally tired out after his uneventful day. Laying down and pulling the blanket up over them both, he murmured a soft, “I love you,”

Carlos could only manage something that sounded like “I love you, too,” but without all the consonants, but Cecil understood as they both fell asleep.


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So summer got full of dinosaurs and dads and then ??? But now summer is winding down and I'm trying to be a person again, AND it is punkrockgaia's birthday once again (oh wow it's been a year since Chapters 17 & 18) so I thought I'd update. We are rapidly approaching the end of this fic, with just a few more chapters to be written, but I cannot promise an end date or update schedule in the meantime.

“Why would you do that!? What were you thinking, Cecil?” 

It wasn’t what Carlos had meant to say. He’d meant to say something along the lines of “Are you okay?” or “Oh honey, I’m so glad you’re safe and home,” as Cecil walked in the door. But that wasn’t what came out.

Cecil just burst into tears at the question. Not that he hadn’t been crying while driving home, but he’d held it together enough to make it there safely. Now, there was no holding it together as he crumpled in on himself, leaning back against the door and sliding down it. “I- I I…” he wanted to say he didn’t know, but that was a lie. He knew exactly why he did it. “I want my town to be safe. I want that brave young girl to be safe. I want Strex gone and my town to be a place where I want to have my future, hopefully brave, young girl…”

Carlos shook his head a bit, taking a shaky breath as he knelt and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, placing a protective hand on his middle. “You could’ve…” Died. Been fired. Been hurt. Lost the baby. “A lot of things could’ve gone wrong, Cecil…”

“...It was news, I couldn’t just not report it…” Cecil said softly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, even if he knew that Carlos was at least partly right about the danger. “And I think… Earl would’ve wanted me to. He would have been proud. And terrified. He spent a lot of his life that way. But… we learned how to do that thing with a phone and the radio tower together. Well, he learned it and taught me so we could both get our badge.” He bit his lip, his tears slowing. “It felt right.”

“Still, you can’t just put yourself in danger like that!” Carlos snapped briefly, noticing wincing at his tone and immediately stopping, going quiet for a moment. “Sorry. I’m just worried about you. And the baby. I love you, Cecil, and I have a hard time imagining a life without you at this point. Moreover, I don’t /want/ to imagine a life without you anymore.” He sighed gently before continuing, gently touching Cecil’s stomach reverently and protectively. “Night Vale is a dangerous enough place. But Strex… is something new and different and as a scientist I would like to approach it with caution at least until I’ve studied it further, but my hypothesis is that it is, too dangerous, perhaps more so, and I’ve yet to find evidence to disprove that. I want you to be careful… For all of our sakes.”

Cecil knew Carlos was right. He shouldn’t be taking risks like this, not when he’s pregnant, not this far along. But he didn’t want to be coddled. He was a reporter. A journalist. It was his job to do these things, baby or no baby. “I’m safe enough,” he assured, “I’m sure. You’re not going to lose me, or the baby, or anything like that, I’m fine.” He dried his eyes and sat up a bit, eventually standing with a bit of difficulty, and heading towards the bedroom.

Carlos sighed, able to tell that he wasn’t going to be able to argue with Cecil, not tonight. He gave him a few minutes to settle down before joining him in the bedroom, finding him already curled up in bed. “Cecil do you want something for supper…? I could get run out and get Jerry’s Tacos, if you wanted...”

“No. Not hungry,” Cecil murmured.

“You should really eat...”

“I’m not an incubator. I’m a person who isn’t hungry right now, okay?” Cecil snapped, causing Carlos to recoil briefly before the scientist sat down next to him.

“Cecil, you’ve been pregnant the entirety of our relationship, so I admit I am not certain how I relate to you when you’re not carrying a child, but I believe that would still worry about you if you weren’t pregnant. She will be only one of a multitude of people who benefit from and enjoy having you around, including myself and the majority if not all of this town...” he said softly, reaching out to tentatively touch Cecil’s shoulder. 

The radio host wanted to pull back from the touch, but he didn’t. He refused to let himself lean into it either. “I still don’t want to eat..”

“Okay…,” Carlos said with a nod, giving Cecil’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Is there anything else that you do want?”

“...Lay down with me?” Cecil asked softly.

Carlos nodded and smiled, slipping his shoes off and curling up to Cecil’s side. “I can do that.”

Finally, Cecil let himself relax against Carlos, taking his boyfriend’s hand and placing it on the swell of his abdomen. They laid there quietly for a long time before Cecil murmured. “She’s pretty still now, but she’ll be kicking again soon. She always kicks when I’m settling down.”

“I know,” Carlos chuckled, “half the time you’re pressing her into my back when she does.”

“Imagine feeling it from the inside,” Cecil laughed, elbowing Carlos gently. 

The scientist laughed again, rubbing over Cecil’s stomach and, to Cecil’s mild, fond annoyance, eliciting a kick. “Maybe I’ll have the next one.”

Cecil paused then. “...You want another?” 

Carlos hadn’t quite realized what he’d said as it came out. “Possibly, in a theoretical future, where Night Vale is sufficiently safe, the future is less unpredictable than it currently is, our relationship is healthy and stable, and we feel confident in our abilities to remain good partners and attentive parents to our daughter while adding another child into the situation, then yes, I would,” he managed after a moment of thought.

Turning to get a better look at Carlos, Cecil was mostly just confused. “I know that scientists never communicate directly, Carlos, but there were a lot of qualifiers to that yes…”

“Well of course there are, there are,” Carlos said, as though it was obvious, “It isn’t something I’d want to rush into, or something I’d want if we weren’t reasonably prepared for it. But it isn’t something that I don’t want ever, either.”

“...Okay…” the radio host replied, a bit clearer on the issue, but still wondering, which Carlos, thankfully, picked up on.

“It’s been a long day, Cecil,” he murmured, giving him a quick kiss, “I was mostly joking with that comment, but the possibility that in Night Vale anyone could carry a child, or at least a larger portion of the population than previously thought elsewhere is more than worth studying, and if it turned out to be safe, I wouldn’t mind carrying the next, if we chose to have one. I would also not mind just having one child if things did not work out favorably to us having another, nor would I mind adopting or you carrying again if it were safe and you were up to it.” 

Cecil nodded and returned the kiss. “You’re right, it has been a long day,” he agreed, “Could you maybe talk a little less future science and just kiss me some more tonight?”

Carlos laughed, pressing kisses to Cecil’s lip and jaw. “Well, science is all around us and in everything we do, especially because I am a scientist. But alright.”


End file.
